Growing Up Phantoms
by ilovepuppies125
Summary: Birthdays, weddings, tea parties, Christmases and so much more. A series of one-shots that follows Danny, Sam, and their two twin babies Grayson and Elizabeth as they go through their childhood, making friends and learning to use their powers and keep the secret.
1. A First Birthday to Remember

**Okay, so this is technically a series of one-shots connected to my story Baby Steps and leading up to a sequel that will focus entirely on Elizabeth and Grayson as teenagers, however, you do not need to read the first story to read this, it just might make understanding this series a little easier. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. And for those of you who did read the first story, welcome back, I hope you like this one too.**

A First Birthday to Remember

Sam POV-

"Of course, I had to be the one to insist on individuality," I muttered to myself. It had started out as a great idea, that is, until I had to plan two completely opposite themed parties under one roof.

"Are you talking to yourself?" Valerie, who was helping with the party asked.

"No," I answered, slapping more icing on a cupcake.

"Sam, it's not healthy to talk to yourself," Jazz insisted. I merely rolled my eyes, adding a bag of marshmallows to the homemade Chex Mix.

It's not like they would even remember this birthday when they were older, I mean, they're one year old for Pete's sake. But still, we would have some great pictures. And, if every other child in the world gets to have their _own _birthday, who am I to deprive my children of the same thing.

An overworked mother, that's who.

Of course, today, the day of, it's too late to back out and squish them into one collective birthday so now I'm making all stuff for a dinosaur party and a ladybug party for three o'clock later on this afternoon.

I'm still not sure we're going to get it all done, and that's with me, Jazz, Danny's mom, and Valerie all working on everything at the same time.

Of course, it would be a heck of a lot easier if Danny, Tucker, and Danny's dad would stop eating all the food as we make it and instead actually start helping. But there's a football game on, so that is completely out of the question.

To be fair, Danny _tried _to help earlier today, unfortunately, he doesn't have a single artistic bone in his body and ended up ruining several tissue paper lady bugs, which I then had to go and redo.

And maybe, I was going a bit too far for this birthday, especially considering that most of the party guests were already here, other than a few girls from school who were bringing their little siblings and cousins to put a few more kids in this house. Each birthday had a cake. And, in that aspect, Lizzie had the much easier part: circle cake, circle ladybug. Simple. However, for Grayson's cake, I was actually making a dinosaur. It took several different baking tin and I actually had to use the carving knife to get it the way I wanted, but, after several cans of green-colored vanilla icing, I finally had a dinosaur. In addition to both cakes, we make a single batch of cupcakes, making half of the bath red and other half green.

Of course, there were also other snacks, some themed and some not, for each party.

Lizzie's ladybug party was being held in the backyard, which we had already covered in multicolored streamers and balloons, and a ladybug painted banner that read 'Lizzie's First Birthday.' Set up around the backyard were various games for the younger party guests to play including "Paint a Ladybug," "Ladybug Scavenger Hunt," "Ladybug Toss," and "Catch all the ladybugs." On a table next to the food were goodie bags filled with candy and ladybug themed kitschy dollar store junk. I was so glad that we had actually gotten a bright, sunshine-filled day, or else the living room would have been extremely crowded.

This is because, the living room was being used for Grayson's birthday.

Dinosaur wall clings were stuck to every wall and green, blue, brown, black, and orange streamers trailed down from the corners were balloons were taped in groups of threes. We had phased all the furniture out of the room to make space for the activities: "What's in the Dinosaur Egg," "Make Your Own Dinosaur," "Dinosaur Stomp," and "Dinosaur Limbo." We had also made gift bags for this party, although they looked nearly identical to the ladybug ones except filled with plastic dinosaurs instead of ladybugs.

All the games had little prizes that were offered to those who won which was basically more dollar store junk combined with whatever we could find around the house.

Thankfully, the guests of honor had not given us too much trouble today. Both had been down for a nap for a few hours now.

Finally, three o'clock rolled around and guests began to arrive. I didn't know a lot of them, but that was okay, we had made enough food to go around, and, would likely still have some left over after everyone was gone. I gave Danny a camera and I took one for myself, each of us taking one of the babies and photographing them. Danny's mom was in charge of the video camera, filming all of the festivities.

For two one-year-olds, I think they rather enjoyed themselves.

Or maybe it was just all the people and bright colors surrounding them.

Or maybe it was the cake. Neither of them had ever had cake before.

We sat them next to each other in their high-chairs, giving them their own cupcakes, and sang happy birthday. They both looked at us rather confused as we sang, wondering what we were doing. Lizzie's hair is a little longer, and it flipped out at the bottom with cute baby curls, while Grayson's black hair tended to flip out on top.

When we had finished singing, while a little prompting, we got Grayson and Lizzie to both pick up their cupcakes with their meaty hand and shove the pastry into their mouths. They must have liked it because they continued to eat the now-squished cupcake with their hands.

By five o'clock, all the guests had cleared out, and, armed with black trash bags, everyone who had been with us this morning, picked up the garbage.

When we were done, filling a total of five trash bags, six plastic baggies, and twelve Tupperware containers, the doorbell rang. We all looked at each other, then at the clock. It was seven o'clock, surely no one had misjudged the time by _that _much, I mean, the babies were already asleep upstairs. And no one had left anything here either, considering we had just cleaned the entire house.

The only thing that had been left untouched was the slew of unopened, colorfully-wrapped, presents.

Danny went to answer the door, the rest of us behind him.

To say I was surprised by who was behind the door was an understatement.

"Are you guys having a party?" a girl with long, slightly matted, black hair and ice blue eyes smirked at us.

"Danielle!?" four of us exclaimed in unison. Then after a second, three of us realized that the forth shouldn't _know _that we _know _Danielle. But Valerie said nothing; instead she regarded us suspiciously as we all invited Dani inside.

"Would you like some cake, chips, or hotdogs?" I offered what we had the most left of.

Dani nodded vigorously, and, looking at her, she definitely needed it. If I had to guess she'd been on the street, most recently, for at least three weeks. Before that she had probably been bounced around between homeless shelters, group homes, or foster care, but still never staying in one place for very long. I handed her a plate of food and she scarfed it down quickly. What I didn't understand was how she still looked the same age as when we had last seen her: twelve.

Valerie looked about ready to ask something, but her phone buzzed. She sighed, answering it.

After a few minutes on the phone with her dad, she hung up, sighing again.

"I've got to go home. It was nice seeing you Dani," she said, saying goodbye to the rest of us too, before exiting out the front door. Now it was Danny's parents' turn to be confused.

They didn't even need to ask, the look on their faces said it all.

"Remember how I said Vlad tried to clone me…" Danny trailed off. It only took a second for that to sink in.

"So you're saying…" Danny's mom gasped in realization, then she turned to Dani, "Do you have…" Mrs. Fenton didn't even need to finish her question before Dani nodded, transforming into her ghost form.

Danny's parents seemed a little dumbstruck. And Danny's dad muttered something about "…five in one house," which, I guess, now there were. Me, Danny, Dani, Grayson and Elizabeth.

"I'm sorry I came here. I just…I had nowhere else to go and—" Mrs. Fenton cut Dani off.

"Sweetheart, don't apologize. You're a Fenton, you belong here. But with Grayson and Elizabeth in the guest room and Danny and Sam in his room, you'll have to share a room with Jazz," Mrs. Fenton told her. Dani's face lit up, a smile stretching from ear to ear.

"Yay!" Jazz exclaimed, "I've always wanted a sister."

I smiled a little. I had been on the receiving end of Jazz's sisterly kindness. That's a fate I wouldn't on anybody. But I got the feeling that since Dani had been without a family for so long, any family, even one as dysfunctional or overbearing (as Jazz most definitely has the tendency to be) as this one was welcomed.

Suddenly her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, the way Danny's sometimes do.

"Wait a minute, who are Grayson and Elizabeth?" she wondered.

Danny and I shared an embarrassed smile.

"Our twins," we said in unison. Dani's mouth formed a little "o" before she burst out laughing.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, so you guys…" she didn't get to finish before another round of laughter shook her body.

"Are you done?" I asked with a hand on my hip.

"No wait, this is still funny!" she cackled loudly again. I rolled my eyes, preparing a few questions of my own while I waited for her to chill out, "Okay…okay, now I'm good," she said between deep breaths. Then she looked at us questionably, "How?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly our choice," I told her, "Vlad hired a ghost named Hatchwork to mind control us into…you know…so that, after they were born he could raise them as his own kids." At this, Danielle paled, all amounts of humor gone, "He kidnapped them when they were three weeks old, and, although we were able to stop him…Elizabeth ended up in the emergency room."

She didn't know what to say.

"But enough about that," I said, "I have a question for you," she looked at me expectantly.

"How are you still twelve?" I wondered.

Dani shrugged, "I guess when Vlad made me he messed with my aging. I've looked like I was twelve for three years, when I'm technically only three. My guess would be that I'll be twelve for twelve years before I actually start to age."

Huh, weird.

"So if you're twelve for the next nine years, that means, at some point, you will only be two years apart from Grayson and Elizabeth," Danny pointed out. That was actually kind of nice. Because we were so young, Grayson and Elizabeth didn't really have anyone close to their own ages, and, even though it would be years, I was glad that they would get to go through their teen years with someone close to their own age who completely understood all of the issues they would have with their powers.

"So do I get to meet my niece and nephew?" Dani asked hopefully.

I looked at the clock, then back at Danny.

"It's only an hour and a half after their bedtime…" he trailed off.

"Oh, alright," I gave in, "But, you two are going to have to deal with them when they're fussy tomorrow," I told Danny and Dani.

Danny grinned, phasing upstairs to go get them. A few seconds later, he came back down, a baby in each arm.

The two yawned in unison, blinking open their eyes.

"Aww," Dani gushed, sitting down so she could hold them without fear of dropping them, "They're so cute."

She looked at them for a few minutes. I got the feeling that they were having this moment, mentally sharing their "bad experiences with Vlad" moments. After a while, our babies yawned again, and Dani reluctantly handed them over to Danny who took them back upstairs.

After several more plates of food, Dani finally seemed to be satisfied.

"Well, I would say that you should start school, but if you really aren't going to age for nine more years…that might be a little suspicious," Mrs. Fenton told her, "So, I guess that means you'll just have to be home schooled."

Dani grinned happily.

"You can learn the ins and outs of ghost weaponry!" Danny's dad boomed gleefully, Dani seemed excited by this. I chuckled a little at the exchange.

After Dani had showered and Jazz carefully cut the dead, matted, dirty-caked, hair off, leaving her hair a good three inches shorter, we all got ready for bed. Dani borrowed some of my clothes, at least until we could get her some of her own, and slept on an air mattress on Jazz's floor until we could get her a bed.

Even still, I'm not sure I've ever seen her happier.

The official cover story for now on was that she was Jack's sister's daughter who had come to live with them after his sister had died. It was a stretch, and it wouldn't explain why, in nine years, she still looked the same, but we would cross that bridge when we came to it.

I just wondered if Valerie would believe the story.


	2. The Proposal

The Proposal

Danny POV-

Tonight is October 16th, Sam's 18th birthday.

And, yeah, 18 may seem a bit young to be getting married, but hey, we already have two kids together.

I had been meaning to do this for weeks, but I wanted the moment to be perfect. My mom had given me the ring; it had been my grandma's. Apparently, it's pewter, with a center cushion-cut diamond, and two round-cut diamonds on either side, with a total of two carats. I didn't really know what any of that meant or whether it was good or bad, but I knew Sam would love the ring.

For one thing, it wasn't overly ostentatious, but instead, it had an understated, old-world charm about it. Another thing about it was, the swirly design that came from the center diamond was almost more incredible than the diamond itself, something that seemed to be handmade, and had obviously taken a lot of time. I knew that this is something that Sam would appreciate.

Another thing, it was pewter. And, even if I don't exactly know what kind of metal that is, I know it's not something common. It's something more unique, like Sam.

Thankfully, my parents, who are already in on the surprise, agreed to watch Grayson and Lizzie for the night so that we can go out.

We decided to walk to her favorite restaurant. It's not too close to my house, about a fifteen minute walk away, but it was on the slow green river that looped all around Amity Park. Being that it is October, the night air was chilly. She was bundled up in her favorite gray jacket, acid-washed skinny jeans, and, of course, her classic combat boots. On other girls this might have looked like she wasn't trying to look nice, but on Sam, it worked. She looked beautiful, like always.

It was when we got to the restaurant that everything I had so carefully planned out, began to fall apart.

"I'm sorry sir," the rude maître d, with an obviously fake accent, slicked, gel-coated black hair plastered to his scalp, and a pointed nose which was stuck so high in the air, I'm surprised that it didn't start collecting snow, "I don't see a reservation for you."

Well, I had definitely made one. In fact, I made one _last week._

"Could you please take another look?" I asked. With one dramatic sigh, he took a brief look at the seating again.

"No, sir. There is no reservation," he repeated.

That's just wonderful. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

"That's too bad," Sam sighed. I looked at her. The faint smirk on her face let me know that she was making some kind of plan, "I guess Phantom _can't _join us for my birthday."

"You're right. Maybe I can have him meet us at the restaurant by the pier instead," I played along.

"Danny Phantom?" the man asked, the fake accent slipping in his surprise.

"Yeah. Of course, it doesn't matter now, seeing as you don't have a reservation for us," Sam sighed.

"Wait, wait, wait," the maître d waved frantically, "Let me look again. Ah, here it is, not under Fenton but under Phantom, my mistake, sir."

I invisibly duplicated myself, allowing my ghost-formed copy to enter the restaurant.

"Danny, Sam," my duplicate greeted us before her turned to look at the maître d, narrowing his eyes, "Is there some kind of problem here?"

"No, no, Mr. Phantom. Your table is right this way," he fumbled with the menus, nearly dropping them all to the floor. I held Sam's hand in my own, winking at her.

She chuckled, amused, as we were seated at our table.

Once the maître d was gone and the waiter had taken our drink orders, I turned to Sam.

"I know this isn't technically the one-on-one date we had in mind," I whispered with a smirk.

"You're right. It's better. It's a two-on-one date, with celebrity service," my copy added. Right now I was wishing I could just recall him back into myself right now. Sure, he's my duplicate and _technically _has to follow what I want him to say, but he also works independently from me, which means that he can basically say whatever he wants.

"Can you not?" Sam asked, "That' just weird, you're basically talking to yourself."

"Sorry," I apologized, though I still have little control over my replica.

Dinner had been going well. Sam ordered her favorite meal. When we ordered dessert, I discretely whispered to our waiter for the chef to spell out "Will You Marry Me," in chocolate on the dessert plate.

Our desserts approached. Our waiter set Sam's dessert, a chocolate mousse, with the lettering already spelled out. I pulled out the ring, ready to get on one knee, when, all of a sudden, another waiter carrying a tray of water stumbled, spilling water all over Sam and washing away the message on her now soggy dessert plate.

"Oh, bummer," my duplicate said, "Here let me help with that." He made her intangible, allowing the water to pool on the floor.

Of course, they brought her another dessert, but this time, guess what they forgot.

That's right. The proposal message.

Okay, proposal at dinner, that didn't work out.

After we finished eating, we took a walk by the river.

'_Okay,' _I told myself '_This is better. Nobody around; just us and the river.'_

And it would have been great too, that is, if a ghost hadn't decided to attack. I sighed, sliding the box back into my pocket and looking at Sam. In unison, we changed into our ghost forms. After ten minutes, we had captured the nameless ghost in the thermos, but, we were also no longer by the river.

The two of us descended onto a roof. It wasn't the prettiest roof nor was it the cleanest roof. White pieces of trash floated around us and there was bird poop speckling the crunchy asphalt beneath our feet. From here, you could just barely make out the pier and the little bit of shoreline that touches Lake Michigan, and the river we had been so close to, only minutes ago, sparkling green, even under the dark sky. Below us, was the rest of the sleepy town of Amity Park, where, the large majority of everything was closed by nine o'clock at night. I sighed, changing into my human form. Sam looked at me, a little concerned before following my lead and becoming human again.

"Danny, what's wrong?" she wondered, always able to read me so easily.

"Well…it's just," I sighed, looking into her intense violet gaze. I looked down, feeling the ring box in my pocket, thinking. I looked back at her.

"What is it?" she wondered, perplexed.

I pulled the ring out of my pocket, getting down on one knee. I will never forget the look on her face.

Her eyes got wide, and she covered her agape mouth with her hands.

"I have been trying to do this all night, and this was not exactly how or where I planned to do it, but…Sam, you are my best friend, the mother of my children" I chuckled a little, "You've been with me through everything and you've made me who I am today. I could not imagine life without you, and I never want to see a day when you and our children are not right by my side," I locked eyes with her, "Happy Birthday, Sam," (pause for dramatic effect), "Will you marry me?"

Her eyes watered, but I saw a smile spread out behind her hands that were still covering her mouth. She was speechless, so instead she just nodded, slowly at first, then quickly bobbing her head up and down. Finally, she found her words.

"Yes! Yes, of course I will!" she exclaimed. I carefully slipped the ring on her finger then I pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

We were both breathless when we finally pulled apart and her brilliant eyes fixed on me again, she wrapped her arms around my neck, resting her head on my shoulder. I twirled her around in one of those graceful hugs that you see in movies when the couple has been reunited in a dramatic, slow-motion, run on the beach.

She laughed as I sat her back on the ground, taking a second to study the ring on her finger.

"It's beautiful, Danny," she told me.

"You're beautiful," I replied. Still transfixed by the ring on her finger, and without looking up, she smiled.

"I love you," she said, finally her eyes still glistening with unshed tears of joy.

"I love you too," I told her, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Let's go home," she smiled after we stood there, looking into each other's eyes for several minutes. I took her hand in mine and we transformed into our ghost forms. And together, we flew home.

Finally engaged.


	3. The Wedding

The Wedding

Sam POV-

Even though Jazz, Dani, and Mrs. Fenton _already _knew about the proposal, they still gushed after we got home, eager to begin planning the wedding for us.

We had decided on a spring wedding, April 12th, to be exact. And the Save-The-Dates were sent out, literally, the day after Danny proposed.

And the preparations for my wedding, less than six months away, were already underway.

Wedding Party: Check. My maid of honor I had chosen to be Jazz, partially, because she was like the first sister I had ever had and partially, because, with her running the show, not a hair will be out of place on the big day, this left my bridesmaids to be Dani and Valerie, of course. Danny's best man would be well, obviously, Tucker, with the other two men being Phantom (yes, we were actually going there, of course, it would be quite awkward for Valerie), and Dash (remember how Danny had said that they weren't all of a sudden "best buddies" after I was first discovered to be pregnant. Yeah, right).

Wedding Venue: Check. I had a wedding venue that would make David Tutera cringe. A cemetery. Though, I suppose it's more ironic than anything. I'm getting married in a cemetery. That's right, dead people and all. Of course, when you, your husband, your children, and part of the bridal party are all half dead, and when half of the guests are ghosts (yep, ghosts are invited. Apparently, Danny and I getting married is the most exciting this to happen to the ghost zone in centuries), and when the person doing the officiating is a ghost who can control time, the tombstones don't really matter much. Plus, it's not like it's going to be a dark and gloomy ceremony. It's April, so the grass with be green and the mausoleum and tombstones will be shining in the sunlight. Not to mention, cemeteries make great photography backdrops.

Wedding Flowers: Check. I decided on black and white anemones, bright yellow sunflowers, violet-colored calla lilies, and deep, royal blue thistle flowers. No roses in sight. It's not that I dislike roses, but they use them for _everything _and _everyone. _So no, no roses at my wedding.

Wedding Dress: Check. It's beautiful, exactly everything I had dreamed about since I was fifteen. Strapless, sweetheart neckline, with clear, elegant, Swarovski crystal beading which gradually fell from the neckline to the scalloped edge at the bottom of the dress. Beneath my breasts, a black satin ribbon curved up. Above this ribbon, to the neckline, was black lace and beneath the lace, you could see the white fabric and the crystals. The rest of the front of the dress was white. But, in the back, there was a beautiful corseted back. And where the white fabric of the dress parted at the small of my back, a long black train, with a white scalloped bottom, flowed out behind me.

Bridesmaid Dresses: Check. I had opted for long, halter-neckline, royal blue, dresses which coordinated with the thistle in our bouquets. Even, now two-year-old, Lizzie and Grayson had their own outfits. Lizzie was dressed in a lavender colored dress with little yellow flowers on it and a matching purple elastic band with a larger yellow flower, around her head. And Grayson looked adorable, and, exactly like his dad, because both were in black suits.

Wedding Food: Check. Instead of hiring a caterer, Mrs. Fenton had decided to make _everything _including both my favorite vegetarian dishes, and some of Danny's favorites too_. _Why on earth she would ever volunteer to do such a thing, I don't know, but so long as nothing comes to life and begins attacking my guests, it was perfectly okay with me, and it certainly save us a lot of money.

Wedding Cake: Check. This, Mrs. Fenton had decided not to make. When we went to taste cake flavors at a local bakery, Danny and I were unanimous in our decision almost instantly: chocolate and vanilla marble cake with cherry filling and an Italian meringue buttercream frosting.

Wedding Rings: Check. I love my engagement ring so much; I simply opted for a simple, matching pewter band encrusted with small diamonds, instead of a new ring. Danny's is silver with an onyx stripe in the center, and a single diamond in the center of the stripe.

It seemed the only thing I hadn't planned, was the honeymoon, which Danny was being annoyingly tightlipped about. I couldn't even get Jazz to spill.

On the day of the wedding, I was incredibly anxious. I know I shouldn't be nervous, and I'm not, not really, at least not nervous about marrying Danny. My anxiety was not a case of cold-feet, I was just worried that something would go wrong.

Couldn't be a ghost attack, they were all here.

Jazz handed me a Shirley Temple, but I noticed Valerie wink at me, indicating that there was a little more of a kick in the drink than Jazz had hoped for. I sipped it down, the bitter edge of the alcohol competing with the cloyingly sweet taste of the cherry juice. Yes, technically, Danny and I were still too young to have alcohol, heck, Jazz was still too young to have alcohol (but only by a few months). However, considering the fact that we are parents and getting married, which, in many cases makes us adults, local law enforcement (who were either working as security or actually invited to the party), had assured us that they would turn a blind eye for Danny and I (all of the other underage guests would not be so lucky).

By now, all of the guests had arrived, and would be finding their seats, waiting for the bridal party, in two separate black limos to arrive. I didn't know where the men were exactly, although I hoped by now, with the wedding set to start in ten minutes, that Danny was already stationed next to Clockwork at the front of the aisle, waiting for the rest to us to arrive. We pulled up to the cemetery, and Tucker, Phantom, and Dash were dressed in their suits, prepared to escort Jazz, Valerie and Dani down the aisle before me.

The classic wedding march started, which was practically the only thing classic and traditional about my wedding. Dani and Dash were the first to go down the aisle. Being that she is physically only twelve while he is eighteen (and already way taller and bulkier than her) she had to reach to be able to loop her arm through his. Keeping time with the music, they started down the winding gravel road that would eventually end at the front of the ceremony in front of a white-marble mausoleum.

Valerie glared daggers at Danny's duplicate, who merely smirked at her in response. Ah, irony at its finest.

"I'm warning you, Phantom," she threatened, pointing a finger at him.

"Hey, no conflict!" Jazz scolded, "Now go, you're on."

Reluctantly, Valerie put her arm through his. I must say, it's weird to see his ghost form wearing a suit, but definitely not bad. They too started down the path.

Last before I would go solo, were Tucker and Jazz, the Maid of Honor and the Best Man. Tucker hooked arms with Jazz without a quarrel, though I knew he would rather be walking down the aisle with Valerie on his arm.

Now I was alone. I took a deep breath, the alcohol making my nerves a little calmer, and waited for my cue. When the music got louder, I started walking. Step. Stop. Step. Stop. To the pace of the music.

Soon the path turned and there were all of my guests. Watching me.

The wedding was pretty well divided, ghosts on one side, humans on the other (except for a few brave souls, no pun intended, who had ventured to sit among the ghosts. Either that, or there were no more open seats by the time they had arrived. Which, I suspected was the case with Mr. Lancer, who, was looking exceptionally uncomfortable sandwiched between Skulker and Johnny 13).

I did a quick once-over of the crowd. I had actually sent invitations to my parents, although, I really wasn't surprised that they hadn't shown up. Danny's parents were there though, sitting in the first row, beaming, and filming as I walked down the aisle, on their laps, I knew, were Grayson and Elizabeth. I recognized all of the other faces on the human side. It was basically the entire town of Amity Park. Even Paulina had shown up.

Finally, I looked at Danny, and everyone else seemed to melt away. He looked so handsome in his black suit and his blue eyes sparkled warmly. He smiled widely at me, wider than I've ever seen him smile. Finally, I was next to him, he took my hand in his, intertwining his fingers with my own.

"You are all surprised to see a ghost doing the officiating," Clockwork began, "Although I can't say I was exactly surprised when Danny asked me. Then again, I'm never surprised about anything," Clockwork's eyes sparkled with humor. Those in the audience who knew the omniscient nature of Clockwork (mostly the ghosts), understood the joke and laughed quietly, while the others merely sat there, confused, waiting for the usual officiator spiel to begin.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, in the presence of God to unite Daniel Fenton and Samantha Manson in holy matrimony. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..." Clockwork quoted 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, this is a frequently used marital line, although I suspected that Clockwork knew it from memory.

I had decided against a Jewish marriage for several reasons. One, because since my grandma died, so many years ago, I had been out of touch with the Jewish faith. Two, because the only people I would be doing it for would be my parents, who weren't even here, not to mention, avoiding the Jewish ceremony serves as one final act of rebellion against my parents. And three, because Danny and I had decided to use the same words that _his _parents, the parents who had been supportive of our who journey together, had used when they were married.

"Danny, do you take Sam to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as you both shall live?" Clockwork asked, though, of course, he already knew the answer. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the audience knew the answer. He looked at me, his baby blue eyes clear and bright.

"I do," he pronounced.

"And Sam, do you take Danny to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as you both shall live?" he asked.

"I do," I replied, looking at Danny, smiling.

"Can I have the rings please?" Clockwork asked, and Tucker handed them over, "As the rings have no end so your love should have no end. As often as either of you see them, you will be reminded of this moment and the endless love you promised."

"This ring I give to you in token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love," Danny told me, slipping the ring on my finger next to my engagement ring.

"This ring I give to you in token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love," I repeated, putting the wider silver band around his finger.

"Therefore, by the power vested in my by the state of Illinois, the Ghost Zone, and in the presence of God. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," Clockwork announced.

Danny didn't need to be told twice. He kissed me, sweetly and passionately and the audience cheered in response. All too soon, we had to break apart.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Fenton," Danny, who had still had his hand in my own, lifted them high above our heads, almost like a sign of victory.

After the bridal party (and Grayson and Elizabeth) took pictures in the cemetery, we joined our guests at the reception under a white tent not too far from where the ceremony had taken place.

People helped themselves to the food at the buffet, heaping citrus salad, parmesan chicken or vegetarian lasagna onto their plates, and helping themselves to the sweet buffet. Clear glass bowls were filled with blue, purple, yellow, white, and black candies, trays of cookies with Danny and my names on them, cake pops, and chocolate dunked rice krispy treats, were being quickly devoured.

On a table away from the other food, the cake was on full display.

It was white, with black, horizontal rings of fondant around each of the three tiers and with multicolored flowers to match the ones in my bouquet flowing from the top of the cake.

The DJ played some of our favorite songs and the stage lights flashed different colors around the space.

As Danny and I sat down with our food, the toasts began.

Jazz had the longest one, not surprising.

"Danny, I never expected you to get married before me because I'm your older sister. Of course, I also didn't expect you to have kids before me, well, actually, before most people in school. But I did know, that when you got married and had kids, it would be with Sam. I'm sure, in your own ways, you knew that too, but you were both too stubborn to admit it until you got…well, a push. Anyway, I've watched you two grow up together, get in trouble together, face embarrassing parents together, and struggle through parenthood together. You have been best friends for so long, and I know that that enduring friendship will make your marriage all the stronger. I wish you both a long and happy marriage," she said, taking a sip from her champagne glass (although, being the rule-follower she is, I expected that the light-colored liquid was actually grape cider instead of real champagne).

Danny's parents went next.

"Danny, we are so proud of you, and we couldn't be happier for you and Sam. Sam, we love you like a daughter and we are so happy to officially let you fill the spot that you have held for years, especially the last two years," Danny's mom said.

"Here's to the next generation of Fenton—er…parents, and to our new daughter!" Danny's dad added, always a man of few words (unless he was blathering on about ghosts, of course). I knew that Danny's dad had been about to say Fenton Ghost Hunters, which, in a room, half-filled with ghosts, that probably would have ended badly, so I'm glad he corrected himself when he did.

Tucker spoke next.

"I'd just like to say: I told you so. Seriously, I so knew you guys would end up together since we were like twelve. And now that it's finally here, I'd like to say that we're all really happy for you guys," he told us. I suppose we should have been expecting that.

Dani went next.

"Danny, you are an awesome cousin who has gotten me out of some pretty…sticky situations. You and Sam make an adorable couple, and you make an even more dangerous team, seriously, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end if I had messed with you. Anyway, I know you'll have a long, happy marriage and Lizzie and Grayson will always have awesome parents," she took a sip of her cider.

Phantom stepped up. Oh God.

I looked at Danny, wondering where the hell he was going with this, he merely smiled innocently at me.

"Danny, I love you like myself, but seriously dude, if you hadn't married Sam, I would have. Sam, you are smokin' hot, even, if not especially, for a mother of two. You guys will be happy together, but seriously, if you ever break up," he held his hand up to his ear, mouthing "call me."

I had a hard time keeping my composure because I desperately wanted to burst out laughing.

Valerie stepped up, scowling at Phantom. Another "Oh God" moment.

"I would just like to say that I wish you two all the happiness in the world. That being said, I think Phantom's speech was completely inappropriate.

"You're just jealous because you want all of this," Phantom stood up, gesturing to himself, and I nearly choked on my champagne, casting a slightly accusatory glance at Danny. He returned my look, wide-eyed, holding up his hands as if to say "Don't look at me. I had nothing to do with that."

"Save it for Paulina," Valerie retorted in response. Even the duplicate didn't like this, and he frowned, annoyed.

"Ghost Boy I love you!" Paulina shouted from the crowd, and a, still annoyed Phantom, vanished, slamming forcefully back into Danny's body.

"I hate when that happens," Danny mumbled.

Dash was the last of the bridal party to speak.

"Um…Fenton, I know that we didn't always get along much in high school, or middle school, or elementary school, but I'm totally with you now. You rock dude, and congratulations on getting married to Sam, Phantom was right, she is smoking hot. You are a lucky guy," Dash said, sitting down.

Well, okay then.

"Does anybody else have a speech they'd like to give?" Jazz asked.

Mr. Lancer raised his hand, and Jazz handed him the microphone.

"I taught both of you your freshman year, and I must say, the entire faculty at least, knew, even then that you two were perfect for each other. Even if you tended to ditch class, or not turn in your work, or fall asleep in class or, play video games instead of doing school work, or go around school rules in order to avoid punishment or…" he trailed off when he saw us glaring at him, "I still knew that there was something special in you two. A desire to succeed and go somewhere in life and I have no doubt you will, but you will be going there together. Congratulations," he finished, handing the microphone back to Jazz.

"Anybody else?" she asked.

Skulker raised his hand.

"Dear God," Danny muttered quietly.

Jazz hesitantly handed him the microphone.

"Whelp. Don't think that just because you are married with a family means that we are going to go any easier on you. And I know that I speak for all of your enemies when I say that. Our truce may hold for tonight, but when you're back in Amity Park, the hunt is once again on," he said.

Danny and I sighed, we hadn't really expected anything to change, but it would have been nice to have a break for a while.

Finally, Danny and I were actually able to eat our food. The two of us casually watched the ghosts and humans interact with each other. It was actually rather comical. Especially Danny's aunt, Alicia, who had already had more booze than anyone else and was slurring over the dance floor, flirting or cussing out anything with a pulse, or, in many cases, without a pulse.

When dinner had finished being served, the party slowly shifted to the dance floor, which lit up in different colors under our feet, just outside of the tent, beneath the clear, black, star-filled sky.

Usually, I don't like being the center of attention, but, it's my wedding, night, which means that Danny and I get the first dance on the dance floor.

I recognized the familiar song come over the speakers as Danny and I swayed back and forth in each other's arms. It was a song we both loved, and had decided on when picking the playlist without a second of hesitation: Hanging by a Moment by Lifehouse.

Soon, other people joined in, ghosts and humans alike, swaying on the dance floor. Around us in the cemetery, low fog had rolled in, obscuring the grass just below the raised platform of the dance floor. There was almost a mystery to it, with the fog, and the shifting, translucent, glowing forms of the ghosts among the humans. Across the floor, I saw Skulker dancing with Ember, Johnny dancing with Kitty, Danny's parents dancing together, and Lancer dancing with Coach Tesla.

"Look," Danny whispered in my ear, turning us a little so that I could get a better view. It was Tucker, asking Valerie to dance. And she accepted, not that I had any doubt that she would. The two of them had been in an on and off relationship for the past year, and now, it was Danny and my turn to say "I told you so." It really was only a matter of time.

Danny and I finished our first dance as husband and wife, and this was the moment that I always thought I would get to dance with my dad. But, of course, neither of my parents had even bothered to show up.

"Would you mind if I cut in?" I heard Danny's dad ask from behind us. Danny smiled, nodding.

"I know this is supposed to be your dad's job," he told me, dancing with two large, left feet, "But, I thought I might make a good substitute."

"Thank you," I smiled, glancing over to see Danny dancing with his mom. Of course, she danced like it was an extreme sport, and from over here I could practically see how dizzy he was getting.

After that song had finished, another person asked to dance with me. Danny, in ghost form.

"May I have this dance?" he asked. Danny's dad merely smirked.

"Of course," he said moving to the side.

"So is it really you, or is this another duplicate?" I teased.

"I guess you'll never know," he smirked back. That was Danny, my _real _Danny, "I just wanted to dance with you the way you are supposed to be danced with." And without my even realizing it, we were floating, twirling gracefully over the heads of everyone else.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Valerie watching us suspiciously, but I ignored her, looking into Danny's bright green eyes.

When the song ended, we were back on the floor, and, only about a minute later Danny, human Danny, was back, wrapping his arms around my waist again.

We ate the cake later in the evening, Danny and I both shoving it into each other's faces, then getting competitive about it until half of our faces were covered in cake, icing, and cherry filling.

When it became time to throw the bouquet, I stood on the stage, glancing behind myself at the group of single girls.

"Okay, on the count of three. One. Two. Three," I called, throwing the bouquet over my head. I whipped around to see who had caught it.

It was in the grasp of an incredibly surprised, but also pleased, Jazz.

I grinned at her, climbing down from the stage.

Danny came up behind me.

"You ready to go," he whispered into my neck, making chills go up my spine.

"That depends," I smirked, "Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

He said nothing, which is code for "no."

We went outside of the tent, followed by the guests who came to see us off. Instead of throwing rice or confetti, we gave them all bubbles and the iridescent spherical orbs trailed after us. It only took me a second to realize what vehicle we were walking towards: the Specter Speeder, adorned with a "Just Married" banner on the back. This meant that we were going somewhere that was either too far, or impossible to drive to.

We kissed our kids goodbye, and hugged some of our closer friends and family, before both of us stepped into the Specter Speeder, waving goodbye as we flew off.

"Okay Danny, spill. Where are we going?" I asked once we were out of sight.

"You'll see soon enough," he smirked.

All of a sudden, the sky around us was purple with green doors floating around.

The Ghost Zone.

Wait a minute? The Ghost Zone? Why were we in the Ghost Zone?

"Danny, why are we in the Ghost Zone?" I wondered.

"You ask a lot of questions," he pointed out.

"That's because you don't give me a lot of answers," I reminded him. Suddenly, a door opened, and we went through.

I'm not sure what I expected, but this certainly wasn't it.

In front of us was a house, tall, white and light blue, like something you might see while vacationing in the Carolinas. But the beach around it was not North or South Carolina. The sand was purple, the same deep color of purple as the sky of the Ghost Zone. Above us, the sky was black and star-filled once more, and the water reflected it, making the rolling water look like black, liquid, metal.

"Don't worry, the sun actually does come up. It's not like this all the time. And tomorrow that water will be a bluish-green color," Danny assured me.

"Where are we?" I asked him.

He shrugged, "No idea. All I know is that I've rented this place, and the whole private beach, for the two weeks we are here."

I smiled at him. He knows me so well. Not only is it beautiful, but it's different; somewhere nobody else will ever be able to go.

"I love you, Danny," I told him.

"I love you too, Mrs. Samantha Fenton," he replied.


	4. The Reveal

The Reveal

Sam POV-

Danny was right, the sun did come out, making the water turn Caribbean blue. And, under the sun and blue sky, the dark purple sand was a much lighter shade of lavender. The palm trees on the beach were still green, but the trunks of the trees were either fuchsia or orange.

The white and blue house, as it turns out, was stocked full of normal food, all of our favorites actually (which I get the feeling Danny had something to do with). The house was three levels, each with a balcony that looked out over the beach. The bottom level even had a pool.

Downstairs there was also a great game room: ping pong, billiards, air hockey, foosball, skee-ball, pinball, and all the videogames you could imagine. This was the room we used third most often in the house behind only the kitchen and…well, the master bedroom, which was the only room on the third floor, and whose balcony had the best view of the oddly-colored beach below…not that we really were enjoying the scenery too much.

We spent a lot of time on the beach, walking along hand in hand, boogie-boarding in the surf, snorkeling (and let me tell you. If you thought the colors of the beach was weird, you should have seen the fish), laying in, or playing in the sand, flying kites, tossing a Frisbee back and forth, or showing off, by doing cool dives from forty feet over the ocean.

We took a lot of pictures (which, we decided, Tucker would have to edit the colors of some of them so that, if we wanted to show people outside of Danny's family, they wouldn't question the bizarre landscape).

However despite the amount of fun we were having, at the end of our two-week honeymoon, I was ready to go home and see my babies again.

We packed our bags, piling them into the Specter Speeder.

"Maybe we can come back here with the kids someday," I mused, holding the jar of purple sand that I had saved, close to my chest.

"Maybe," he agreed. After one last look at the shoreline over the grass-covered dune, Danny and I climbed into the Specter Speeder, going home.

We phased the Specter Speeder into the Fenton Works basement, going up the stairs to greet our kids.

"Mommy! Daddy!" they exclaimed happily in their high-pitched two-and-a-half-year old voices.

I took them both into my arms, hugging them tightly.

"Mommy missed you," I told them, smoothing down their soft back hair with my hand, "Give mommy a kiss," I told them and they both puffed out their lips, pressing them to my cheeks. I set them gently on the floor.

"Hey, Daddy wants a kiss too," Danny said and they giggled rushing into his outstretched arms, and kissing him on the cheek.

Danny's parents ran out to do some shopping, probably, more relieved than anything to no longer be stuck on toddler duty.

Our little family of four sat on the couch, our kids cuddling up between us. It had occurred to us on our honeymoon, that as a married couple with two kids, we couldn't share the queen bed in Danny's NASA themed bedroom, under the supervision of his parents for much longer. Grayson pressed his face into my side, closing his eyes, and I chuckled, putting my arm round him.

I'll bet Lizzie and Grayson loved the past two weeks, with Danny's dad giving them fudge and ice cream and telling them they don't have to take a nap. But, I suppose, that is what grandparents are for.

Within a few minutes, both Grayson and Lizzie were passed out on the couch between us.

I looked at Danny who merely chuckled in amusement at out adorable kids. Yep, it was moments like this when being parents was completely worth everything we had gone through.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I glanced quickly at Grayson and Lizzie, hoping that the sudden noise hadn't woken them up. It hadn't.

I gently eased out from underneath Grayson, leaning him the opposite way so that he was now lying on his sister, and carefully getting off of the couch to answer the door.

I opened the door. It was Valerie.

"Hey Val," I said, slipping outside and closing the door behind me so that I wouldn't wake the kids with our conversation.

"Hey, I heard you were back. How was your trip?" she wondered.

"Amazing," I told her, walking down the steps next to her.

"Where did he end up taking you?" she wondered.

"Fiji," I lied, "We had own house right on a private beach. It was so beautiful."

"Sam, I have to ask you something?" she told me suddenly. Well that didn't sound too good at all.

"Okaayyy," I drawled, "Shoot."

"Are you cheating on Danny?" she asked.

What? Why would she even ask me that? We just got back from our honeymoon! Why the hell would I be cheating on Danny?

"No! Of course not! Why would you even ask me that?" I exclaimed.

"Because I saw the way you looked at Phantom on the night of your wedding, and it's pretty obvious he has a thing for you too," she crossed her arms.

Well, shit.

I sat down on the front steps of Danny's house.

"It's not what you think," I told her.

'_Yes, that's real smooth, Sam. Tell her 'it's not what you think' that's what people always say, now she's going to thin that you're cheating on Danny,' _I mentally scolded myself.

"So there _is _something going on between you two," she accused, her hands on her hips.

"No. Yes. Kind of. Seriously, this is all just a big understanding. I'm not cheating on Danny with Phantom," not a lie, I can't be cheating if they're the same person.

"Have. You. Had. Sex. With. Phantom," she punctuated every word for emphasis.

I really didn't know how to answer that, and it clearly must have shown on my face.

"You did," she guessed, "I cannot believe you. You know how much Danny loves you, right? Do you know how dangerous it is to have a relationship with some awful ghost?" she threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Of course I know all of that, but like I said, It's. Not. What. You. Think," this time I punctuated my words.

"Then prove it," she said simply, crossing her arms again.

I glared at her for a few moments. I knew what I had to do, I just didn't know what she would do or how she would react.

"Fine," I said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into Danny's house.

He looked up from the TV. He was now the only one on the couch, meaning that he had taken the kids upstairs to their beds.

Good.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned. Valerie gave me a judgmental look as if to say "Yeah Sam, _is _something wrong?"

"You have to tell her," I told him.

"What?" he asked confused at first, then slightly anxious as he realized what I meant, "Why?"

"She thinks I'm cheating on you!" I exclaimed.

"I don't just _think._ You practically just admitted it to me. You're cheating on Danny with Phantom!" Valerie announced.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Danny said, standing up, holding up his hands in the "calm down" motion, "Now I think this is all just a big misunderstanding. Sam isn't cheating on me."

"Prove it," Valerie repeated. Danny and I shared__a look, holding a "either you tell her, or I will" stare-down. He sighed, breaking eye contact. Caving.

The white rings formed around his waist, moving vertically along his body until Phantom stood in his place.

"You see?" he asked her, "She wasn't cheating on me, because Phantom and I am the same person."

Her eyes grew wide and she carefully sat on the chair behind her, probably so that she wouldn't fall down from the shock.

"So…all this time…" she trailed off. Danny nodded, "That explains how you know Danielle then. I never really did buy the she's both of your cousin story."

"Well, actually, she's not my cousin at all. Not really," Danny said. Valerie looked at him, confused, "She's technically my clone. Vlad made her trying to create the 'perfect-half-ghost-son.' Clearly, something was wrong, because, for whatever reason, she is only twelve and a girl."

Valerie let this sink in a little. After a few minutes, a look of realization came over her face.

"You were the one he was buying pregnancy tests for, not Paulina!" she exclaimed staring at me.

"Bingo," I agreed, "Wow, you are the first one, well, besides Tucker, who as ever figured that out. I swear I have never seen a more oblivious city of people."

"Wait…then who is Missy's dad?" Valerie questioned.

"We think it was Jacob Erik," Danny and I replied at the same time. Valerie nodded, recognizing the merit in what we had just told her.

"So do Grayson and Lizzie have your powers too?" she asked.

"Yep," I told her, "That being said, being the mother of half-ghost babies has a few perks," I smirked transforming into my ghost form.

"Holy crap!" Valerie shouted jumping back from me, "How did that happen?"

"Long story," Danny and I said in unison.

"But yeah. They have ghost powers too. And when they're old enough to handle it, we're going to train them to defend themselves for when Vlad comes back," Danny and I transformed back.

"What, Vlad? But he's been gone since…" another look of realization, "The mansion! When it came down, that was you guys!" she paused, "But wait…then that means…"

We nodded.

"When Grayson and Lizzie were kidnapped, it was by Vlad," I finished her sentence for her.

"Whoa," she blinked, "And you're sure he'll come back?"

"Without a doubt. He's just biding his time," Danny sighed.

She still seemed a little shell-shocked, but she surprised us both when she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" I questioned.

"It's just…it's just that," she managed between spurts of laughter, "Your wedding speeches…they finally make sense…"

Thinking about it made me laugh too.

Danny's speech had been, "Danny, I love you like myself, but seriously dude, if you hadn't married Sam, I would have. Sam, you are smokin' hot, even, if not especially, for a mother of two. You guys will be happy together, but seriously, if you ever break up…call me," and, out of context, that was absolutely inappropriate to say at a wedding, but in context, it's just Danny, messing around with everybody and making me laugh at our own personal joke.

"How did it happen?" Valerie asked after we all stopped giggling, "I mean, how did you get ghost powers?"

"When my parents built the ghost portal," he began.

"I kind of peer-pressured him into checking out the inside," I continued, grinning guiltily.

"But what neither of us knew, was that my parents had accidentally put the 'on' button on the inside," Danny added.

"And Danny tripped, and hit the button," I inserted.

"And I was electrocuted and the energy from the ghost portal fused with my DNA, so instead of dying like I should have, I half-died, so to speak," Danny finished.

"Ow," Valerie said simply.

"Yeah, that's putting it mildly," Danny remarked.

"Why didn't you guys ever tell me?" she asked.

"Let's be honest Val," I said, "Your reputation precedes you."

"What reputation?" she wondered.

I arched an eyebrow, "Um…the Red Huntress."

"You know about that?!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide.

Danny and I nodded in unison, "We've known since you first got the suit."

"Does everybody else know?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Please," I scoffed, "In Amity Park? It's been four and a half years and still nobody had put it together that Danny _Fenton_ is Danny _Phantom. _Trust me, people here are beyond oblivious. Your secret is fine."

She breathed a sigh of relief and was silent for several minutes.

"I'm sorry," she said after a while.

"Excuse me?" Danny questioned.

"I'm sorry that I hunted you, I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you when you said not all ghosts are evil, heck, I'm sorry I never listened to anything you said about ghosts or about Vlad. And, Sam, I'm sorry I thought that you were cheating on Danny, I should have known you would never do that," she apologized.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know, and we didn't exactly make it easy. But, so long as we're apologizing, I'm sorry I lied to you," I said.

"About what?" she questioned.

"We didn't go to Fiji," I replied with a smirk.


	5. Buying a House

Buying a house:

Sam POV-

"I don't know, Danny," I shifted Elizabeth to my other hip, "It's beautiful…but can we really afford it?"

The house we were looking at was, well, perfect. It's exactly the kind of home that every girl dreams of when they are little: a two-story, white brick house with a long front porch (with a dark-colored wood door and shutters to make it a little more my taste), white picket fence, green yard with lots of tall trees, with a little mailbox at the end of the driveway, a park right down the road but also with a play set already in the backyard. But, more than just its exterior, this house has everything we wanted.

It has a beautiful kitchen with warm, dark brown, cabinets and granite countertops, matching wood floors in the living room, and tile floors in the kitchen, with a contemporary but still traditional flair that appeals to both Danny and my tastes. Also, it has an open concept, so that, from the kitchen I can see the kids at all times (which is definitely a must considering how often they get into trouble); four bedrooms, so that now Grayson and Elizabeth can have their own rooms plus an extra one if Jazz is in town or id Dani wants to spend the night; a large basement, it's not finished yet, but once it is, it will become a playroom/entertaining room/lab (Danny is insisting on the lab, which I am okay with so long as it has a door with a lock so the kids cannot play in open portals).

Also, this house is in a neighborhood full of kids and only five minutes away from Danny's parents. So yes, this house is perfect, but that won't matter if we cannot afford it.

"Grayson! Get out of the bird bath," I scolded our son, who was currently up to his elbows in dirty water, he smiled at me innocently, looking so much like Danny. I sighed, a mother's work is never done, apparently.

Danny looked at the house and where it set comfortably on the suburban corner, and rested against the light post.

"I think we should go for it," he said finally.

I knew he would say that. It's always been his way to act now and think later, and it _usually _works, but this time, I wasn't so sure. This wasn't just some trip into the ghost zone; this was a big financial decision. I could tell that he knew I was worrying, when he came over, and put his hand on my cheek, giving me a kiss.

"Don't worry," he told me, "Yeah, sure, it's at the top of our budget, but it's move-in ready, it doesn't need any repairs, except for the basement and it's in the perfect location with everything we wanted. Plus, you and I are both set to receive promotions soon, so we should be able to afford it with plenty of money to spare."

He was right, and, apparently had put a lot more thought into this than I had given him credit for. We had looked at twenty-seven houses, just today, and I desperately wanted our house search to be over.

"Okay. Let's do it!" I grinned. Danny jumping up with a loud cheer and taking our daughter out of my arms swinging her around in a circle. She giggled gleefully before he set her on the ground and pulled me in for a hug.

"We're buying a house!"

I laughed, hugging him back.

Our realtor, sensing our obvious delight, decided to make her way over to us.

"So, should I write up the paperwork?" she asked knowingly.

Danny and I simply shared a smile.

The sellers took our offer on the first try, apparently, they had not known that Amity Park was haunted when they had first moved in, and, now that they did, they wanted to get out as soon as possible.

At the signing table, they practically threw the keys at us as they took their paperwork and their already-packed moving truck and fled. Danny and I each propped a kid on our sides: me with Grayson and him with Elizabeth and we went over to the house for the first time being able to call it ours.

It looked different without the furniture, but, almost, better, in a way. Now, it wasn't furnished with someone else's belongings, now, it was open to the potential of whatever we wanted to do with it. The kids raced through the empty corridors, playing hide and seek in the unfamiliar closets and putting useless claims on every room they went into.

"Don't run on the stairs!" I exclaimed unsuccessfully, as my children ignored me, continuing to run up and down.

Danny went out, picking up food and paper plates, and bringing them back.

That night, we ate pizza and cinnamon sticks and drank blue Kool-Aid on the kitchen floor, right under the breakfast nook chandelier (which Danny hit his head on, multiple times).

Our children grinned, cheese and grease dripping from their now blue-colored mouths. I used a napkin, and, in vain, wiped the food off of their faces, only to have them take another bite and once again be messy.

When we were finished, they once again, sped through the empty rooms, while Danny and I watched, still sitting on the kitchen floor, laughing.

"Hey, let me show you what I want to do with the basement," he told me, standing up and extending his hand to help me up. I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet and lead me to the basement.

Thankfully, the previous owner already had the lights put in, so when we flipped on the light, the space lit up. In the little slitted windows near the ceiling, the last few minutes of daylight were still peeking through the visible blades of grass.

"All I need to do," Danny said, "Is put some drywall up, frame off a few rooms and we're done."

He was right, the walls were already framed and ready for drywall, and there was also already plumbing for the bathroom, so that would be the easy part.

"And here," he gestured to a corner, "Is where we will put the play room, I was thinking we could leave it like partly open to the rest of the room, with columns and a half wall all the way around, except here where the door way would be, and we could even put down padding on the floor so it's safer," It was definitely a suitable sized playroom, the kind that would allow us to let the kids play down there for hours once they were a little older, "And here is where we can put the lab. See, we already have the perfect place for a ghost portal, and I would be able to keep it closed off," he mapped out an invisible space with his arms, "and, of course the bathroom is over there, but the rest of this would be left open. I was thinking we could put a bar over there, with some room for us to entertain. You, know, a nice big couch here. And since the backyard is already a little sloped, maybe in the future we could pay to have it made into a walkout basement…but…yeah, what do you think?"

"Sounds great, Danny," I smiled, giving him a kiss. He put his arm around my shoulders as we envisioned the space, "Are you sure you'll be able to handle all of that?"

"Please," he scoffed playfully, "It's me we're talking about."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm worried about," I teased back and he laughed.

"Well, of course, I might need your artistic design talents, Mrs. Fenton," he replied.

"Hmm…well, my talents come with at a price," I grinned back, suggestively.

He smirked mischievously, kissing me passionately and slowly pushing me back into the corner. I wrapped my legs around his waist and ran my hands through his dark hair, kissing him back with the same amount of passion.

After a few minutes, I realized that things were too quiet, and I stopped. Any mother knows that when two three-and-a-half-year -olds are suddenly quiet, something is wrong, and being the mom of two _half-ghost_, three-and-a-half year olds, that left the possibility for much worse possibilities than the usual parental worries. Danny sensed my hesitation and immediately tensed up, looking for danger.

"Um…Danny, are the kids being really quiet?" I asked slowly. We shared a look, before we both phased up the stairs and searched the house.

We found them, on the second floor, in one of the bedrooms, passed out on the carpet.

Danny and I chuckled lightly, each picking one up.

"They've had a long day," I said holding Elizabeth, "Let's get them to bed."

Danny nodded in agreement and we put them into their car seats, driving back to Fenton Works for our last night in the old house.

The next morning, the small U-Haul arrived and our stuff got loaded up. It wasn't much: just Grayson and Lizzie's beds and bedroom furniture and a few more things Danny and I bought together over the past few years, along with a few of his parents' "donated" (translation: "this would have been trash but we're giving it to you") furniture. Everything, else had already been ordered by me and Danny last night from his laptop, and would be arriving within the next week.

His parents, Jazz (who is home from Yale), Tucker and Valerie (who has now been his steady girlfriend for almost a year. Ha, I so knew it!), and Danielle, helped us move everything out. This was the first time that any of them had been able to see the house in person, so they were all excited as we unpacked.

Over the mantel of the fireplace, I hung my favorite picture of the four of us, which I had had blown up onto a canvas. It was from our wedding, with me in my black and white dress and Danny in his suit, each holding one of our dressed-for-the-occasion two-year olds, who, we had actually gotten to smile for the camera for a change.

Sure, when we were done the house still seemed bare, physically speaking. But that could, and _would_ be fixed when the furniture arrived. What was important was that the house _felt _full, with love emanating from everywhere.

Yes. Now we were home.


	6. Jazz's Wedding

**Sorry the last one-shot I posted was a repeat. But I fixed it, so you should go back and read it. **** Anyway, here is another chapter, I hope you enjoy it!**

Jazz's Wedding

Sam POV-

Remember how Jazz was the one to catch the bouquet…well…now she's getting married.

"Wow, that was fast," had been my response when she announced her engagement. She had only been dating Robert (or Rob as he likes to be called), another phycology major at Yale, for five months. This short amount of time, kind of surprised me, for Jazz at least, given how traditional she likes to be.

Apparently, Rob is studying phycology so that he can be a criminal physiologist for the FBI. I'm not quite sure if Jazz knows what she's marrying into with that one, marrying someone who is either always in danger, or whose job always puts her and her family in danger. If anyone knows what that feels like, it's me. Not to mention, with his job, profiling and investigating criminals and serial killers around the country, he probably won't be home a lot of the time.

None of us had met him yet, but, apparently, he doesn't believe in ghosts. It should be um…interesting…it's not like he's marrying into a family of half-ghosts and ghost hunter in the most haunted city in America or anything…oh wait, he is. And Danny and I plan to abuse that to its fullest.

"Don't scare him," Jazz scolded in the living room of Fenton Works as we all waited for Rob to arrive.

"He's going to be tracking serial killers, how scared could he possibly get," Danny remarked.

Jazz glared at him, probably ready to launch into a "Don't you dare blah blah blah" but she didn't get a chance because the doorbell rang.

I'm not sure who I was expecting, although it was probably one of the guys that Jazz usually dates, the nerdy kind with no muscle, glasses, and wearing a sweater vest or something, in other words, I had expected her to bring home Spencer Reid from criminal minds.

This guy was none of those things. Putting it in Criminal Minds terms, he was Derek Morgan as a white guy.

He was well-built, about as muscular as Danny, who had put on a substantial amount of muscle, courtesy of Dash's training sessions, however, he still wasn't exactly ripped. He had light brown hair, was wearing a black button-down shirt and dark blue jeans. He seemed to have kind of a cocky, fearless appearance, but, he had a warm, sweet, smile, with equally as warm brown eyes, and it was easy to see why Jazz had fallen for him. In his right hand, he had a bouquet of multi-colored roses and carnations.

"I brought some flowers for you, Mrs. Fenton," he said handing Danny's mom the bouquet.

"Thank you, that was very thoughtful," Mrs. Fenton beamed, "Obviously, I'm Jazz's mom, Maddie, this is her dad, Jack, this is her brother Danny, his wife Sam, and their two kids Grayson and Elizabeth," she introduced each of us, and he shook our hands as we were introduced, "Where's Dani?"

Jazz shrugged. Rob seemed a little confused by Dani's name, but he didn't question it. I knew that Danny's mom knew _exactly _where Dani was, but she was playing along.

"Oh, well, Jazz's little sister Danielle is around here somewhere," she said, "I must say, we are all excited to meet you. Jazz has told us a lot about you."

"Good things, I hope," Rob joked, although I could tell he was actually a little nervous. Oh, this was going to be fun.

"Yes, very good things, that is, except for the fact that you don't believe in ghosts," Mrs. Fenton gave him a slightly pointed look, but she winked at me and Danny out of the corner of her eye. Grayson and Lizzie gasped when they heard that he didn't believe in ghosts. Even at four years old, and still not knowing about their own abilities, they know _exactly _how real ghosts are. I mean, we live in Amity Park, it's a necessary thing to know.

Rob was uncomfortable, clearly not knowing what to say, he shifted back and forth on his feet.

"It's alright, Jazz used to not believe in ghosts either, that is, until the attacks became more frequent and Danny Phantom became a recognized hero. But, you do know we're a family of _ghost hunters, _right?" Mrs. Fenton continued.

"Yes ma'am," he muttered, still, uncomfortable.

"And how do you feel about that exactly?" Mrs. Fenton wondered.

"Um…" he faltered, "I think that, we live in America and everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and businesses." Well, that was certainly a very politically-correct answer, not true, he clearly thought Danny's parents were ten shades of crazy, but he wasn't about to say that.

"What do you think about Danny Phantom, I'm sure you've heard of him," Danny proposed, grinning. Jazz elbowed him, hard, in the ribs.

"Um…well, um….there are a lot of people in the bureau who think that he is likely a criminal using heroic feats to cover-up his crimes," Rob said. Danny pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh.

Oh Rob, if you only knew.

"That so, hmm," Danny said.

"You don like Danny Phantm," our daughter said, her cute voice messing up several of the words. Sure, neither she nor Grayson knew that their father was Danny Phantom, but we raised them to think of him as a hero, which, now that Valerie knew, Danny's parents knew, and Vlad was no longer running the city, was the unanimous decision of the city.

"Um…" Rob didn't know what to say to her big, cute, pleading, eyes. He clearly didn't want to tell her that, no, he didn't like Danny Phantom, but he didn't want to crush a little girl's dreams either.

"Well, at any rate," Mrs. Fenton said, "A few days in Amity Park and you'll be a believer yet."

Rob looked like he seriously doubted it.

I guess that means that it's time that Danny, Dani, and I take matters into our own hands.

Dani hadn't been in the living room with us, not physically at least, she had been floating invisibly on the stairs, waiting for a signal from Danny and I. She started by tapped Rob on the shoulder.

Rob whipped around, trying to see who had tapped him.

"Haha, very funny," he laughed, "But it's going to take a little more than some parlor trick to make me suddenly believe in ghosts.

Next she shoved him from behind.

"What the—" Rob stood up, looking around his chair for the person who had shoved him. He looked at us, "Okay, what is this?"

"We have no idea what you're talking about," Jazz said, surprising me by actually playing along.

Rob seemed surprised by this too; she must have never lied to him before.

At this moment, Danny duplicated himself, giving the invisible Danielle, a high five like they were in a relay race. She flew off to the kitchen changing into human form so that she could meet Rob.

"Hi, I'm Danielle," she introduced herself, "But you can call me Dani, with and I."

"Nice to meet you," Rob said, still a little shaken. Dani sat on the opposite couch, a smug smile on her face.

"So I hear you don't believe in ghosts," Danny's duplicate said in an exaggerated booming voice, because he happened to be talking into a lamp shade. One the couch, everyone else struggled to contain their giggles.

Rob jumped. Gee, I thought that they would have been trained to compose themselves better in the FBI, he turned around searching for the source of the voice.

"Boo," Danny said in a quiet voice next to his ear. Rob jumped up stepping back in the opposite direction. This time, we all burst out laughing.

Finally, he appeared, laughing too.

"Sorry dude," he said through his laughter, "But that was freaking hilarious. You must be Rob, I'm Danny Phantom, though, I'm sure you knew that."

"Phantom!" my kids exclaimed gleefully. He grinned. He might only be a duplicate of Danny, but he still loves our kids more than anything. Phantom scooped them up in his arms, putting Lizzie on one shoulder and Grayson on the other, holding their feet so that they wouldn't fall backwards.

Rob looked at Danny and I almost to say "how are you letting your kids do that?" but he didn't voice his question.

"Did you push me?" he asked. Really? _That's _the first thing he asks, not, "why are you floating?" or "how are you floating?" or "were you just invisible?"

"Um, no, actually. That was this little girl, she's kind of a pain in my butt, but, you know how sisters are," he replied. When Rob wasn't looking Dani stuck her tongue out at him.

"Are you actually a ghost?" Rob asked, still, somehow skeptical.

"Did you seriously just ask me that?" Phantom arched an eyebrow, passing through the couch before sitting on it, "Of course I'm a ghost," he brought Grayson and Lizzie down, setting them next to him on the couch, "And if your next question is 'are you evil?'" he rolled his eyes, "You may want to ask Grayson and Lizzie, right here. Plus, how often is the FBI wrong about people who they originally thought were suspects?"

Clearly, he had a point, and Rob knew it, he just didn't want to admit it.

"So are you like a friend of the family or something?" Rob asked.

"Something like that. Grayson, Lizzie, why don't you guys go upstairs," he told them. They obeyed immediately. Why don't they ever listen to me like that?

"If you're going to be a part of this family," Danny, my Danny, stood up, recalling his duplicate back into his body, "Then there is something you ought to know."

Dani and I stood up on opposite sides of Danny. Then, in unison, three white bands formed, transforming us all into our ghost forms.

"Holy shit!" Rob cursed, jumping back. "How did—what did…Are you…?" he directed the final question at Jazz.

"Nope," she shrugged, "My parents and I are completely human."

"…How is that possible?" he asked us.

"Well, it's kind of a long story, which I'm sure Jazz will fill you in on later. But here's the shortened version. I was in a lab accident which made me half-ghost. Dani is actually my clone, which is why she is half-ghost, and Sam got her powers when she was pregnant with Lizzie and Grayson," Danny summarized.

"Wow that's…um…wow," he said, sitting down, we transformed back to our human forms. He looked at Jazz, "Why didn't you tell me what I was walking into?"

"Well, for one thing, you probably would not have believed that a large portion of my family is half-ghost, I had a hard enough time convincing you that they were ghost hunters. And, for another thing, I didn't want you to freak out," she said, she still seemed a little worried, like he might walk out on her with everything he had just learned, "Are you going to leave me?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Rob blinked, snapping out of his surprise.

"Of course not. Sure, I was surprised, sure I'm reconsidering nearly all of my beliefs right now, but I'm not reconsidering my feelings about you, Jazz, not even if a dragon appears out of nowhere," he said.

"I wouldn't jinx it if I were you," Danny muttered.

"Wait a minute! That's actually _happened?!"_ Rob exclaimed.

"Well, it's been a while. And I don't expect it to happen anytime soon. Dora and I are on good terms and Aragon is locked away so…" Danny trailed off.

Rob chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief, he looked at Jazz.

"I love you Jazz, and that's never going to change," he said.

"Congratulations," Danny grinned, "You passed. Here," he tossed an ectopistol at him, "You're going to need this."

"I already have a gun," Rob answered.

"I can promise that you do not have a gun like this," Danny said. Rob looked the gun over and, after a few seconds, he realized that it was pulsating with green, liquid, energy.

"Welcome to Team Phantom," Danny said.

Six months later, Jazz was married. She had a nice wedding, not at all my tastes, but still really pretty.

Her dress of course, was long and white, but it had short sleeves and a collar made of white lace, with a simple teal ribbon around her waist before it puffed out in a very Disney-princess way. Even with the lace and the poof of the skirt, she looked beautiful, like a princess herself. The top of her hair had been done in an intricate braid, while the rest flowed long and lightly curled down her back.

Dani had been her Maid of Honor, because I had passed the torch. At first, Dani had been ecstatic, having wanted to be a Maid of Honor since _my _wedding. But well, let's just say, it's a _lot _easier to have someone with OCD _plan _your wedding, than to plan a wedding for someone w_ith _OCD.

Another reason that Dani began to hate her role as Maid of Honor: the dress. Oh God, the dress.

She looked like a rainbow marshmallow in a floral dress straight out of the nineteen eighties.

The sleeves, by far, were the worse part. They were giant white poofs that would obscure Dani's entire face if she was turned to the side. The dress itself was white with pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple flowers and went to Dani's knees. However, at the waist it bubbled out, before, once again returning to the tight, pencil-skirt style at Dani's knees. Oh, and Dani's hair matched the decade of the dress. Thank God, Jazz had not insisted that she get a perm, but her hair was styled in the Farrah-Fawcett-esque style.

"I hate you," Dani mouthed to me when I began to giggle the first time seeing her in her dress.

Jazz had decided on a church wedding in the church where her parents were married, and the church was covered in flowers (mostly roses) that draped at the end of the pews and in a decorated arch at the front of the aisle. But, at least the over-abundance of floral scents covered up the old-church-smell. Now, it smelled like rose must.

Lizzie, who had been cast at a flower girl (and, with thankfully, a less-awful dress) came first, in her white dress with a pink belt, throwing flowers out of a little basket onto the aisle.

The music started and Dani walked down the aisle, looking slightly irritated and defeated behind the fake smile on her face as she hooked arms with Rob's brother who was the best man. Several people giggled at her ridiculous ensemble, which she returned with a glare.

Finally, Jazz walked down the aisle. She did look stunning, and she seemed to glow in happiness (or it could have been from the light shining through the stain-glass windows).

As she walked with slow, paced steps, I looked at Rob.

He looked like he had just won the lottery. I recognized that look. It was the same one Danny had given me on the day of our wedding.

They said their vows, and Grayson, the designated ring-bearer, presented the ring on a little silk pillow.

"You may now kiss the bride," the minister said, and Rob gently kissed Jazz, who kissed him back, happily.

The reception was nice, it was in a, surprise, surprise, _rose_ garden behind the church. The sun was shining brightly overhead, because Jazz had opted for an early wedding.

When they got back from taking their pictures, I felt bad for Dani. Now her humiliation has been captured for the world to see.

"Hey Dani," I whispered when Jazz wasn't paying attention. I motioned for her to follow me.

We went into the bathroom and I locked the door behind us.

"What is it?" she asked me.

"I'm going to make this dress look less awful. Stand still," I told her. I started by ripping off the sleeves, then by ripping off the bulging poof at the center.

"You know Jazz is going to be pissed, right?" Dani asked me.

"She already had pictures of you in it, how pissed can she possibly be?" Besides, she's going to be focusing on her new husband, and all thoughts of Dani's dress would be gone.

"There," I said, standing back to look at my work. There was nothing I could do about the pattern, but now the dress was sleeveless, and A-line down to her knees (which I had managed to accomplish by unrolling the fabric from the poof and attaching it around her waist, "Wait, one more thing." I pulled purple ribbon out of my purse, tying it around her waist. Fixing her hair a little, I felt that she could now be seen in public without feeling shame.

"What do you think?" I asked, turning her around to face the mirror.

"Wow, I can't even believe that this is the same dress," she smiled.

"Good. Now, get going, I think you have a speech to make," I told her.

"Oh crap!" she exclaimed, phasing outside. I chuckled to myself, unlocking the door and taking the conventional way outside.

I put a few of the finger sandwiches on my plate, and some fruit, both of which had been cut and arranged in elegant patterns on the serving tray. The main course was caramelized scallops and mahi-mahi over rice, which I obviously wasn't going to eat.

I sat down next to Danny, Grayson and Lizzie (who were currently poking at the fish with their forks and eating the rice, sandwiches and fruit with their fingers), just in time to see Dani stand up to give her speech.

Several people cheered, seeing how her dress had been revamped. Jazz looked about ready to protest, but Rob, who was sitting next to her, whispered something in her ear, and she sat down.

"Wow, giving two wedding speeches in two years, that definitely makes me feel younger than everybody else," several people chuckled, "And now that my dress isn't out of the 1980's, I feel comfortable giving this speech," at this, nearly everyone laughed, "Well, what can I say. Jazz, even though you are technically my cousin," she lied, of course, she had to, given that that was the story we had told everyone when she had first come back, "You have always been like a sister to me, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing," the crowd laughed, "Anyway, Rob, you are lucky, Jazz is so smart and sweet and she loves you. So I know you guys will be happy together."

She raised her glass and sipped her cider.

The reception went off without a hitch. They fed each other cake (white on white, four tiered, with white flowers and pearls) albeit much more gracefully than Danny and I had.

Jazz threw the bouquet, which was caught by Valerie, who shot Tucker a pointed glance.

Then, Jazz and Rob climbed in a limo to be taken to the airport to go on their honeymoon.

Where did they go?

Fiji.


	7. Mr Manson

Mr. Manson

Sam POV-

"I'm going to the grocery store," I called, "Do you need anything?"

"No thanks," Danny called from down in the lab.

"Can I come?" I heard Elizabeth ask. I looked down to see her looking at me with her pleading eyes. Of course, that meant that two seconds later, Grayson appeared wanting to go to. I had kind of wanted to just go by myself because I always spend more time (and money) at the grocery store whenever I take the kids with me, but finally, I caved and let them come with me.

"Okay Lizzie why don't you read me my list?" I asked her. Danny and I had decided to teach our kids to read early, so that they would be ready before they started kindergarten in the fall, and since then, we had been encouraging them to read as many things as we could give them.

"Eggs, milk, bread, cheese, green beans…ew, I don't like green beans," she protested. I simply rolled my eyes, looking back at her from the rearview mirror.

"Keep reading sweetie," I encouraged her.

"Chicken, cookies, banananas," I chuckled a little. Lizzie always adds an extra "na" to bananas.

"Potato chips and juice boxes," she finished, looking at me proudly.

We arrived at the grocery store, and, immediately, my children decided to have an argument about who would get to sit in the cart, even though they were both beginning to get a little too big to sit in the tiny space.

"Hey, stop fighting!" I told them sternly, "Now, Elizabeth, you got to ride in the cart last time. It's Grayson's turn." Of course, she pouted about this for a few minutes, but quickly got over it when she realized how much freedom she had now that she wasn't stuck in the cart. Unfortunately, for me, that usually meant that she was getting into trouble if I didn't have an eye on her constantly.

Today, she decided that she wanted the baby doll someone had carelessly placed on top of a stack of cereal boxes, probably in response to their own child's pleading for the toy. I had turned away, literally for five seconds to grab something from the bottom shelf of an aisle, when I heard everything crash down.

I sighed without looking up, already knowing it was Elizabeth.

Thankfully, this time, she had not knocked over the _entire _display, and thankfully, none of the merchandise was broken. But there was my daughter, standing in the center of six cereal boxes that had toppled to the floor, holding a baby doll, and grinning at me sheepishly, the same way her father and brother do whenever they are in trouble.

"Elizabeth Luna Fenton," I scolded, crossing my arms.

"Look mommy, I gots it," she beamed. I sighed.

"Put it back. Now you are going to help me stack up all of these boxes," I told her. She frowned putting the doll back on some boxes and picking up the others to help me.

"Here, let me help you with that," I heard a voice.

"Thank you," I replied graciously, and looked up to see who had offered me assistance. It took me a minute to recognize him. He had the same prestigious nose, the same pointed chin, but his blonde hair had turned gray, his hair line had receded until he only had hair behind his ears and in a line above the back of his neck. And the years added wrinkles to his face.

I'm sure I'm the cause of many of those wrinkles and gray hairs.

It was my dad.

Obviously, we live in the same town, we're bound to run into each other at some point, but the most I had seen of him in nearly five years was a passing glance on the sidewalk. And, never had he actually spoken to me.

"Oh…hi," I said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

"You know, I remember one time, my daughter decided to open one of the chocolate cakes in the bakery section while we were shopping," he said. But I said nothing. I remembered that day. Well, I didn't so much remember eating the cake as I remembered my punishment when we got home.

My parents had both spanked me, and neither of them had talked to me for days. Plus, that was the last time I was allowed to go shopping with them.

"Hello Samantha," my dad said finally and my children chorused "oohs" as I glared at him because even they know not to call me Samantha, "Err…I mean Sam," he corrected. Wow, I'm pretty sure that was the first time in my entire life he called me Sam.

Elizabeth pushed her way in between my father and I, effectively getting his attention.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"My mommy says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," Lizzie put her hands on her hips and stuck her chin out defiantly.

"That's right," my dad laughed, "Your mommy is very smart."

"Her name is Elizabeth and this is Grayson," I informed him.

"Are they…" he started.

"Twins? Yes, they are," I replied.

He nodded slowly, looking at the grandchildren he gave up the opportunity to know.

I pushed the cart out of the middle of the aisle, this time keeping Lizzie's hand firmly in mine and walking towards the counters. He kept pace with us, instead of leaving, the way I had expected him to.

"Did you know we're getting a divorce?" he asked me suddenly. I stopped. I didn't know that.

"Really?" I asked him.

He nodded in response.

"The papers will be finalized at the end of the month," he told me. The he looked at my children again, "I feel badly for the way things ended."

I knew he wasn't talking about how it had ended between him and my mother; he meant how it had ended between us when I had left.

"Well, you really left me with no other options," I reminded him.

"I know. And I'm very sorry about that. But you have to know…if I hadn't given you the out…she would have done something drastic," he told me.

"_You _didn't give me the out. I was leaving with or without you, right after she mentioned an abortion, I was already leaving. I had already told Danny that I planned to move in with him. I knew that would happen, I had just expected you to be more on my side than you were," it occurred to me that I was probably making a scene in a public store, but at the moment I didn't care, years of pain were flooding out in the form of anger.

"I know," he finally said sadly, "I made a mistake. The worst day of my life was when you left."

"Then why wait so long to get a divorce?" I remarked, "If you cared about me soo much."

"Well, we separated about a month after you left, but she was still all about keeping up images, so we didn't decide to divorce," he told me. I hadn't known that either.

"Okay, then why wait so long to try and contact us? You were separated, there was no reason that you shouldn't have come to see me, come to see us," I insisted.

"Well…she still had all of the financial control. I didn't want to live poor," he pleaded pitifully.

"So you ignored the only family you had left, you missed all the milestones in our lives, for money?" I summarized, still appalled.

"I know, I know, I was wrong!" he exclaimed, "But now I want to make it right! I want to be the father and grandfather I haven't been for the past four years! I want to apologize for all the pain and trauma I've caused , not just in the past four years, but your entire life. I know growing up in that household must have been hard on you, I can see that now, but I didn't see it then, I didn't see how different or special you were! I didn't see your rebellion as a cry for help or attention, I saw it as you being ungrateful, and I'm sorry, so sorry, Samanth—I mean, Sam," he told me, "Will you please forgive me?"

I pursed my lips, not sure what to do. On the one hand, this was the only apology, the only admittance of guilt, the only anything I had ever gotten from my dad. But on the other hand, does this apology actually make up for all the years of bitterness, neglect, and contempt they expressed towards me?

I looked down at my children, who watched us with vigilant intrigue.

Don't my kids deserve the chance to know their grandfather, even if he wasn't there for the early years of their lives?

"Okay," I agreed finally, "But you better actually be there this time. I mean it. Every birthday, soccer game, ballet recital, graduation, everything, you better be there. I will not let them feel the same hurt and disappointment that I felt growing up because of you."

"Understood," he nodded, almost relived, like a weight had been lifted from his chest.

"Oh, and you can't buy love. That didn't work when I was a child and it isn't going to work now. You either have to be present and loving, or not there at all," I added.

"Okay," he nodded, "I'm going to try. And although I know I will never be able to make it up to you, I'm going to try for you too."

I nodded, not really convinced.

"Goodbye Sam, Grayson, Elizabeth," he smiled at us, leaving the grocery store.

When we got out of the building and I began to load the groceries into the truck, Elizabeth asked me a question.

"Who was that man?" she asked me.

"Just someone I know, sweetie," I told her, not wanting to tell her the truth and get her hopes up, just in case he does not stick to his word.

"Are we ever going to see him again?" she asked me.

I looked up at her, thoughtfully.

"Maybe," I replied with a small smile, closing the truck and getting the kids inside their seats before driving home.


	8. Frogs,Fairytales, and Tea with the Queen

Frogs, Fairytales, and Tea with the Queen

Danny POV-

I watched my daughter play tea party with some of her stuffed animals at the plastic table in the playroom, as I leaned in the doorway, smiling, completely, unnoticed by her.

She has never been much of a girly-girl, much to Sam's relief, in fact, most of the time Elizabeth would rather spend her time up in a tree or in a mud puddle. But, it's times like this that she likes to put on the plastic silver crown that Jazz got her for Christmas and one of the few dresses in her closet and play pretend.

It's really cute, actually, the way she pours the water from her little teapot into even smaller glasses, and breaks the cookies as she talks to her stuffed animals, and sips the water with her pinky up.

I couldn't help but chuckle a little in amusement. That got her attention, and she turned around to look at me, never startled, just perplexed.

When she realized it was me, she smiled cheerfully.

"Hi Daddy," she waved.

"Hey, sweetie," I smiled back at her, walking into the playroom and squatting down to her level, "Whacha doing?"

"I'm havin' a tea party," she replied refilling her own tea cup, "You wanta play?" she asked me.

I was going to say 'no' but when she looked at me with her light purple-blue, pleading, stare, I couldn't possibly refuse.

And that's how I ended up, sitting across form her, in a chair the size of my foot wearing a blue plastic crown and her favorite blankie around my neck. There are so many people and ghosts who would be getting a laugh about this right now if they could see what I am doing.

"We've gots to drink wif our pinkies up, like this," she reminded me in her adorable, childish voice, demonstrating by sipping her own water glass. I chuckled to myself, before tapping my cup to hers and following her lead.

She offered some more water to Lulu, the white, purple, and black cat with big eyes that I had gotten her when she was only a few months old. The two had been inseparable ever since (we actually have a few backups, stored away just in case she ever loses it). Not too long ago, Sam had made a blue sweater to go on the cat, which, apparently, Lulu can never go without because she will get cold.

Her attachment to the cat was exactly the same as Grayson's. He clings to the dark grey teddy bear, appropriately named Smokey, which I got him at the same time I had bought Lulu for Lizzie.

It's funny how much Elizabeth looks like Sam. She has the same face, the same contagious, kind, and warm smile, and even, beneath the high pitched sound, the same laugh. Her eyes, are somewhere in between my light blue ones and Sam's dark purple ones, making them a bluish, lavender color that are always so filled with light.

With her crayons and coloring book, Lizzie scribbled the pictures. Now, much of the crayon landed outside of the lines, but she managed to stick the colors, basically, in the places where they were supposed to belong (except for right now, with Cinderella's hair and dress colored in black). I used to think that maybe this was one of the residual effects of living with Sam, like maybe her old Goth-like habits were beginning to rub off, but, the more I considered it, the more I thought that maybe that wasn't necessarily the case.

Sure, maybe her desire to be different was a direct result of exposure to Sam, but, maybe, at the same time, Elizabeth had found a way to express the individuality Sam had been trying to create for our kids since before they were born. And, let's face it, she is different. Both of our children are different than any other kids solely because of the abilities that I passed on to them, maybe, this is Lizzie's way of expressing her uniqueness without even knowing it, or maybe it's her way of already not wanting to conform to the world around her. At any rate, she lets her individuality be known on a regular basis.

"Look, Daddy, it's Mommy!" she squealed in delight. I smiled, as she handed me the picture. She was right, it did look like Sam. This was just another way I could see how smart my little girl was: she had gone against what was expected for this particular character, putting her own spin on it and making it into her mother.

"You're right Lizzie, it is!" I exclaimed and she giggled happily, "Now, maybe if mommy would stop SPYING she could come and look at it!" I directed my comment at Sam, who I knew had been behind the pillar for the last ten minutes.

Lizzie whipped around, trying to find her mom, who then, stepped out from behind the pillar.

"You caught me," she said with a smirk, "Now, let's see this picture," she laughed, coming to sit between Elizabeth and me.

"That's really pretty, sweetie," Sam told her, "Thank you," she gave Elizabeth a hug and kissed the top of her head, running her finger through our daughter's soft, wavy, black hair.

Lizzie's eyes shined, but she didn't say anything; she merely began to scribble another drawing in the coloring book.

Sam POV-

Yeah, I had been spying, but it's so rare that I actually get a chance to watch them play. And even rarer is the chance to see Danny wearing a blankie and tiara.

So, I took a quick picture, saving this one for the photo albums.

Ten years ago, I'm sure that neither of us would have ever thought that this is where we would be, and I'm sure Danny never guessed that he would be playing tea party with his little girl, but, I know that, just looking at our two kids, neither of us would trade what happened between us for the world. However, the experience with Vlad is something, which we both wish we could take back.

I glanced at Lizzie, and, from where I was standing I could just see the line of the scar that Vlad had caused on her forehead. It had eventually healed; now the same color as her pale skin instead of the dark red scab it had been. It could hardly be noticed now, but it was still there, and it would never go away.

"Now, maybe if mommy would stop SPYING she could come and look at it!" Danny said, calling me out. I knew he had known I was there the whole time, he probably even knew that I had taken a picture, but, maybe he just wanted to spend a little more time, just the two of them, because he had waited ten whole minutes before exposing my hiding place.

Elizabeth turned around, searching for me. I saw her eyes lock onto the pillar I was behind. She knew I was there, she didn't want to be wrong, so she didn't announce her suspicions. It still amazes me how smart and intuitive our kids are, even at such a young age.

"You caught me," I came out with a smirk, holding up my hands in surrender. Lizzie smiled, happy to have guessed correctly, "Now, let's see this picture," I said going to take the open plastic chair between them, putting Lulu, who had already been occupying the space, on my lap.

Elizabeth held up the picture, showing it to me. I thought it was absolutely adorable.

She is so unique, and she reminds me so much of Danny. Sure, she looks more like me, but she has more of his personality traits. She is always thinking about others, even with something that should have been entirely her own: a simple coloring page, she is thinking about me. More than that, she shows love, kindness, happiness, and forgiveness to everyone. She is also just as humble. When I complimented her drawing, of course she was delighted, but she didn't relish in the praise, instead, she just blushed the way Danny does and went back to drawing.

Danny cast a glance at me, taking my hand in his, and kissing it playfully.

"My lady," he smirked. I rolled my eyes, but our daughter burst into giggles at the exchange.

I decided to play along.

"Hey, Lizzie should I turn daddy back into a frog?" I asked playfully.

She giggled again, nodding with a smile, and clapping her hands.

Danny pretended to act offended, which, of course only made Lizzie laugh harder. At this point, I was having a hard time containing my composure too as I picked up the matching plastic wand off of the floor.

I uttered some random magic words, and waved the wand over him, turning on the blinking lights of the wand.

Danny, obviously playing around now, turned his eyes green and hopped on the ground in a frog squat, ribbiting, and sticking out his tongue to catch imaginary flies. Lizzie squealed in high pitch laughter and now I was laughing too.

"Turn him back, Mommy!" Lizzie exclaimed after a few minutes, still giggling.

"Okay," I grinned, repeating the same magic words and waving the wand.

Danny then stood up and returned his eyes back to blue, seeming to suddenly be "back to normal."

"Thank you, kind Princess, for saving me from the spell," he told our daughter who was still in awe-filled delight, "But now, I think it's time for us to go to bed because princesses need their sleep." I looked at the clock on the wall; I hadn't realized it was so late already. Grayson would be home any minute and they both still needed baths.

Lizzie crossed her arms, pouting.

"Oh, come on, don't give me that look," Danny pleaded playfully, "Do you want me to carry you upstairs?"

She thought for a few seconds, and then finally must have decided that this was a suitable compromise, before extending her arms to be picked up. Danny smiled and leaned down to her level, picking her up and having her wrap her arms around his neck.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes, she has him so wrapped around her finger, it's not even funny.

An hour and a half later both Elizabeth and Grayson were in their beds, asleep, and I went back downstairs, plopping onto the couch next to Danny.

"They asleep?" he asked me.

"Yes, finally. Do you have any idea how much mud Grayson had in his hair? And Elizabeth did not want to take off her princess costume," I sighed.

Danny laughed, putting his arms around my shoulders and kissing my hair.

"Well, now that they're in bed, what would you like to do, my spell-casting Queen?" he murmured, his voice brushing against my skin and sending chills up my spine.

"Hmm…I think I have an idea," I replied, smiling, kissing him back.


	9. Tooth Fairy

Tooth Fairy

Danny POV-

With Sam working at a part-time job at a law firm, while studying to be a lawyer, and with me working two part-time jobs, while getting everything ready to start my own business downtown, and with two four year olds at home, life is hectic.

I was sitting in the office, looking over building permits and merchandise order firms. I will be opening my hardware store in less than a month. As a result, I will be quitting both of my jobs and taking a huge financial leap on this. Needless to say, having only been in a new house for six months, and, with a family to support, that was kind of a risky move.

Sam is supportive at least, she is always supportive.

"Daddy! Daddy!" my baby girl screamed. Immediately, I was out of the chair and sprinting to her green painted bedroom. I walked in to see her sitting cross-legged on the floor, red blood with green tints was coming from her mouth.

Of course, I immediately panicked.

"What happened?! What's wrong?!" I exclaimed, kneeling down next to her.

"I lost my toof," she told me, holding up the small white tooth happily in her hand. I breathed a sigh of relief, I was relieved that she was not hurt. I picked my little girl up, taking her to the bathroom to get her cleaned up.

"You know what that means, right?" I asked her, although it was hard for her to respond with toilet paper pressed to her gums, "It means that tonight, when you put your tooth under your pillow, the tooth fairy will come and take your tooth and bring you something."

"What will she bring me?" Lizzie asked excitedly.

"Hmm…I don't know," I smiled.

At that moment, Sam came home. Lizzie hopped off of the counter and ran to greet her mom.

"Mommy! Mommy! I lost my toof! I lost my toof!" she said, showing Sam her tooth.

"Wow honey, let me see," Sam said, and Lizzie smiled showing Sam the hole in her mouth, "Did Daddy tell you what that means?"

"Yep! That the toof fairy comes and takes my tooth and brings me something!" she exclaimed gleefully.

"That's right, sweetheart!" Sam smiled.

Our daughter beamed and skipped off.

"So I guess that means you'll be playing tooth fairy tonight," Sam smirked, whispering quietly.

"Why me?" I wondered.

"I have a night class," she told me, walking off to go make dinner.

That meant that I had to get them ready for bed too, which is never an easy task.

After Sam left after dinner, Grayson and Lizzie did not want to take their baths, they did, however, want to play hide and seek.

After I had finally found them, caught them, given them a bath, got them in their PJ's, and brushed their teeth, I was effectively tired out. They weren't of course, but I made them get in their beds anyway. After I had said goodnight to Grayson, I went into Lizzie's room, where my princess was sitting bolt-upright in bed.

"Okay, Lizzie, now you have to go right to sleep or the tooth fairy won't come, okay?" I asked her.

"Like Santa?" she guessed.

"Yes honey, exactly like Santa," I replied, "Now go to sleep, okay?" she nodded, laying down, "Sweet dreams, pumpkin. I love you," I told her, kissing the top of her head.

"Love you too, Daddy," she replied, struggling to contain a yawn.

I chuckled a little, closing the door until just a crack of light from the hallway spilled into the dark room.

I waited a few hours, just to be safe, before I changed into my ghost form, and phased into Lizzie's bedroom to retrieve her tooth and leave her a dollar.

I carefully phased my hand through her pillow, feeling around for the small, white tooth. Finally, my fingers closed around it, and I pulled it out, holding it in my hand.

"Danny Phantm!" I heard Lizzie exclaim in a whisper.

Well, crap, I had been caught.

"Hi Lizzie," I whispered back, "Go back to bed, okay?"

"Are you the toof fairy?" she asked me.

"No, sweetheart. But today, the tooth fairy asked me to get your tooth for her," I replied quietly.

"Why?" she wondered.

"Because the tooth fairy is very busy tonight. But she told me that I can't give you your gift unless you were asleep, so you need to go back to bed now," I told her.

"What are you giving me?" she asked.

I sighed, clearly my daughter did not want to listen tonight.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but you can't let the tooth fairy know, alright?" I asked her.

She nodded.

Suddenly the dollar in my pocket didn't seem special enough.

"I'm supposed to give you this dollar," I told her holding it up, "But I think I have something that you might like better. Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

For a change, Lizzie did as I said. Between my hands, I created a small, heart-shaped, ice crystal. It was a lot like the one I had given to her mother, so many years ago (which she still wears every day on a thin black cord around her neck), except for the obvious difference in shape. It is cold to the touch, but only slightly, and it will never melt or break, it also glows a little, due to the fact that it had some of my ectoplasm infused in it.

I placed the heart, in her open palms.

"Okay," I told her, "Open your eyes."

She opened her eyes and gasped at the heard in her hands.

"What is it?" she wondered.

"Ice," I replied, "But it will never melt or break."

"My mommy has a necklace like this," Lizzie said, turning the heart over in her fingers, admiring it's glassy surface.

"That's right," I nodded, "I made it for her."

"You did?" she exclaimed, astounded.

"Yes, I did. Now, if you don't go to bed, the tooth fairy will have my neck," I informed her.

"Okay," she said, but she didn't move, she merely sat, fixated on the heart in front of her, "What should I do wif it?"

"Have your mommy put yours on a necklace too. But for right now, set it right here," I told her, carefully taking it out of her hands and putting it on her nightstand, "It will be there for you in the morning."

She nodded, laying down.

"Goodnight, Phantom," she yawned.

"Goodnight, Lizzie," I replied, kissing the top of her head again, before I phased out of her room.

I deposited her little white tooth in a jar in Sam and my closet, in a place that Grayson and Lizzie were unlikely to find it, before going out onto the couch.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because, when Sam came home from her night class, she gently nudged me, telling me to come to bed with her.

The next morning, a very excited Lizzie bounded down to breakfast.

"Hey, sweetie," Sam smiled at her, "What did the tooth fairy leave you last night?"

Lizzie shook her head, "Phantom said the toof fairy was busy so he got my toof instead. Look what he gave me!" She showed her mom the heart in her hand. Even Grayson, who hadn't been paying much attention, leaned over, trying to get a better look at the piece of ice.

"Wow, it's beautiful honey," Sam told her, and smiling a little at me out of the corner of her eye, "Do you want me to make you a necklace for it?"

Lizzie nodded happily, handing her mom the heart.

So with some silver wire and a black strip of leather (and a little extra ice on my end), Lizzie now had her own, one of a kind, ice necklace.

She wore it around her neck proudly.

"Wow! I need to lose a toof!" Grayson said, "What do you tink Phantm wil make me?" he asked his sister.

She shrugged, ignoring him. A thoughtful look crossed over his face and I suspected he was planning all the ways he could lose a tooth, which meant that Sam was likely to be mad at me later.

Sure enough, he lost a tooth, and sure enough, Sam was mad at me, because apparently I "encourage our children to knock their teeth out."

Even still, I could tell that she was amused when I had to go on tooth fairy duty again.

Thankfully, Grayson didn't wake up like Lizzie had, so I merely slipped the already-made necklace (my Danny Phantom logo on a metal cord) and a note I had written underneath his pillows (changing my writing a little so that he wouldn't recognize it as from me).

The note read:

_Dear Grayson,_

_Thanks for the tooth. But I don't want you to knock out any more teeth, that goes for Lizzie too. This is my last night on Tooth Fairy Duty, so every tooth you loose from now on will only earn you a dollar. The ice necklace I made for you is my logo. Consider yourself a junior member of Team Phantom. Sweet Dreams. _

_-Phantom_

He awoke the next morning, as happy as his sister had been the morning before.

"Look mommy," he pointed, to the thin sheet of clear ice, "I'm a junior member of Team Phantm!"

"That's awesome, sweetie," she replied, smoothing down the hair on his head, and pulling out her own necklace from beneath her shirt.

"Now you, me, and Lizzie, all have one," she said.

I smiled, it felt good to have made each of my family members something that nobody else on earth would ever be able to make them, something that they loved.

And they did love it.

From that day on, neither Grayson, nor Lizzie ever took their necklace off.


	10. First Day of School

First Day of School

Danny POV-

It seems like not too long ago they were born, and now they're starting school, Amity Park Elementary School to be exact.

Sam and I were, less than thrilled to be waking up at the early hour to take them to their new classrooms, but, Grayson and Lizzie were ecstatic.

They were both dressed in their new clothes, with their new school supplies filling up their new backpacks

Sam and I drove them to the school, which was only a few minutes away. I guess I had expected them to be a little nervous, but they didn't seem to be nervous at all, especially not Lizzie, who ran ahead of us pulling open the heavy double doors.

We walked into the brightly lit, colorful, entryway, branching off down the kindergarten hallway which was color-coded blue. As we walked, Grayson and Lizzie hopped on the checkerboard linoleum (apparently, they could only touch the blue ones).

We went to Lizzie's classroom first, the classroom of Mrs. Peterson.

"Hi, I'm Mrs. Peterson," a cheerful, blonde woman with a pixie cut, greeted us.

"Hi, I'm Sam Fenton, and this is my husband Danny," Sam introduced us, and we shook hands with her, "And this is Lizzie."

"It's nice to meet you, Lizzie," Mrs. Peterson knelt down to her level, "We're going to have a lot of fun in my class this year," she looked back at us, "If you want to unload her stuff in her cubby, you can."

"I'll stay here and do that," Sam said, "Danny, why don't you get Grayson settled in in his class."

"Okay. By Lizzie, see you after school," I waved, Lizzie barely looked up at me as she bounded towards her new desk, "Let's go buddy," I told Grayson.

As we walked down the hall, I noticed that he wasn't sharing his sister's enthusiasm as much as I thought. We stopped in front of his classroom.

The classroom was identical to Lizzie's, although, I got the feeling that _most _of the classrooms in this school were identical.

"Hello there," a plump woman with brown hair greeted us, "I'm Ms. Jean, and you might this be?"

"This is Grayson," I introduced him; although, he didn't seem to want to do much talking as he clung to my pant leg, "I guess he's a little shy today. I'm Danny Fenton, his dad."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Fenton," she smiled, "If you want to go find his desk and put his things in his cubby, that would be great."

We found his desk, right by the window. I unzipped his backpack putting his notebooks, markers, crayons, glue, construction paper, scissors, pencils, folders, watercolors, and erasers in his desk before hanging his backpack on the kindergarten sized hook in a cubby with his name on it.

"Are you ready, Grayson?" I asked him, squatting down next to his desk. He didn't look at me; he merely scowled at the faux wood desk.

"Still not talking, huh?" I chuckled a little, "Okay then, what about this. You're going to make a lot of new friends today, and you're going to get to color and play on the playground and use your Danny Phantom lunch box and notebooks," yep, he and Lizzie both have Danny Phantom lunchboxes and notebooks, this is why I love Sam. They're not bad pictures of me either, usually an action shot of me flying or blasting one of my more well-known enemies with a ghost ray.

Still my son said nothing.

"Okay, what about this," I said, pulling one of his notebooks out of his desk, "How about I tell you a story about Danny Phantom?" That got his attention. They always loved my "stories." He grinned at me, showing the most excitement I had seen from him all day.

"Did I ever tell you about the time that Technus took over my family's garage sale?" I asked him, and he shook his head.

"Well, I had a garage sale, trying to make enough money to get cool clothes for a party, which, by the way, was a bad idea. But, at the same time, Phantom had been having a fight with Technus. Of course, he beat Technus, blasted him into ecto-goo, but what we didn't realize, was that, the goo had gotten into some of my parent's old technology that we were selling," okay, I had fudged several of the details, but I couldn't exactly say 'I accidentally released Technus from the Ghost Zone, gave him the idea for world domination, captured him in my dad's invention, which exploded on a pile of junk I later sold to the people of Amity Park' that makes it seem like it was my fault, which, it was, but Grayson didn't need to know that. I paused my story for dramatic effect. There was a collective, anticipated gasp, from my son, but also from a group of a few other kids who had gathered around listening to my story who wanted to know what happened next. Across the room, Ms. Jean gave me a disapproving look, but I ignored her, "Later that night, all of the technology came to life and started to attack the people who had bought it. I saw this all happen on my way to the party, so, I immediately called Phantom. Suddenly, all of the technology formed into one massive, evil, robot, controlled by Technus that was terrorizing the town, and Phantom was having a hard time beating him. So me, Phantom, your mother, and Tucker, made a plan to shut down Technus's power source through Tucker's PDA ."

"Did it work?" Grayson asked.

"Of course it worked," I told him, "We were able to power him down, just long enough for Phantom to beat him and suck him into a Fenton Thermos."

The kids around me cheered happily.

I saw Sam leaning in the doorway of the classroom, amused by my storytelling. I smiled at her and she walked over to us.

"Did he mention that the remote he sold me started floating while Tucker and I were watching a movie?" Sam asked him, his eyes got wide and he shook his head. Sam chuckled.

"Better now?" I asked him, which was a bad idea, now he had an excuse to start acting difficult again. In response, he crossed his arms, glaring at us.

"If you're really good at school today, and you have lots of fun," Sam proposed, "Then Daddy and I will give you and Lizzie a special surprise when we get home."

"What is it?" he asked us, intrigued.

"If we told you, it wouldn't be a surprise," I grinned at him. He huffed, he hated that response, but neither of us could very well _tell _him the surprise, at least, not here.

The surprise was, well, everything. Everything about me and Sam. Everything about them.

Why did we decide to tell them now?

Well, we wanted to wait until we thought that they could handle it, and, now that they're in school, we think it will be a good time to start training them.

"Do we have a deal?" Sam asked him. Grayson sighed, nodding.

"Okay then, hugs and kisses before we leave. Come on," she knelt down, holding out her arms. Grayson gave her a hug and a light kiss on the cheek before pulling out of her embrace, turning to me. He repeated the same thing with me, before sitting at his desk, smiling, trying to prove that he was already being good and having fun.

"See you after school, honey. Love you," we told him, but he had already tuned us out.

Sam and I walked back don the linoleum hallway, alone.

"They grow up so fast," she mused, she looked at me, "Are you sure they're ready?"

"No," I answered honestly, "But, they will be."

"Do you think they'll be okay?" she wondered, "We've never left them alone before, or, at least, never left them without someone armed with ghost weapons, before."

"You worry too much," I told her, although, I had been having the same worries, "They'll be fine," I said partially to reassure her and partially to reassure myself, "If you want, I can do a few more patrols over here today."

She smiled at me, "Great."

We were just about to walk out the front doors, when, someone else walked in.

Paulina and Missy.

Missy looked, well, like she had been dressed by Paulina. She was wearing a frilly pink dress, with her white-blonde hair in pigtails off of the top of her head, holding a brown teddy bear to her chest. I must admit, I felt sorry for Missy, she looked absolutely terrified, and, I doubted that Paulina would do anything to console her frightened daughter once they got to her classroom. To be honest, both Sam and I were surprised to see that Paulina had taken Missy to school _at all_, but the surprise quickly vanished as we saw the nanny trailing behind them.

We shared a look, us with Paulina, before she quickly whipped her head away, pointing her nose in the air as she stalked off, dragging her daughter behind her.

"I hope she's not in class with Grayson or Lizzie," Sam wrinkled her nose as we walked to the car in the parking lot to go home.


	11. A New Friend

**Hello people. Thank you so much for all the positive response I have been getting about these one-shots. Right now, I am expecting to do about 23, but then I end up with another good idea for a one-shot and the list keeps growing. This chapter right here will be the first time the POV is not from Danny or Sam, but instead it will be from Lizzie's perspective, which I have decided to do in third person, because it would be really hard to write from a five-year-old's thinking. But I'm not used to writing like this, so I might occasionally mess up the tenses and pronouns so please bear with me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!**

A New Friend

After Danny and Sam had dropped Lizzie off, she went to her desk, pulling out her Danny Phantom notebooks, and proudly displaying them on her desk with a smile.

She had begged (although it hadn't taken _much _begging) for her mom to buy them for her. They were all done in a ghostly purple and green color scheme with the town hero (and, unbeknownst to her, her father) on the cover in his classic black and white uniform.

By now, most of the kids were beginning to fill in, their parents, who suddenly realized that they were late, shoved the supplies in the desks and cubbies and said a quick goodbye to their children before rushing out the classroom door.

Lizzie didn't know any of them, though she recognized a few from their passing glances in her suburban neighborhood. Of course, it wasn't much of a surprise that she didn't know any kids her own age (aside from her brother) because the people she spent the most of her time with were her family members.

'_Oh well,' _she thought, '_Mommy and Daddy said that I would make a lot of new friends. Plus, mommy told me that there is a surprise for me a Gray-gray, when we get home,' _she thought. Gray-gray is the nickname she frequently uses for her twin, although he had made it clear to her many times that he disliked the nickname.

Across from her at the table created from four desks pushed together, two boys sat down.

"Hi, I'm Lizzie," she introduced herself, trying to be nice. One of the boys with blonde with brown eyes, and who had a particularly sour look on his face, merely glared at her, taking her aback. But the other boy, with dark brown hair and green eyes, seemed friendly, smiling at her.

"I'm Josh," he replied.

She smiled back at him. Had she just made a friend?

"I like your notebooks," he said, pointing to the image of Danny Phantom.

"Thank you, I do too," she grinned in response and Josh chuckled a little.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lizzie noticed a girl who had not left the cubby corner, but who was watching their conversation with wide, intelligent, blue-green, eyes.

"Hi, I'm Lizzie," Lizzie offered a kind smile to the terrified young girl, "What's your name?"

"…Missy," the girl said after a few seconds, clutching her teddy bear tighter to her chest.

"Oh, you're supposed to sit here," Lizzie told her, pointing the blue-lined, laminated, name-tag, which had been placed to the top of the adjacent desk. Missy nodded a little, walking over and sitting in the desk.

"Do you like Danny Phantm?" Lizzie asked, trying to spark a conversation with Missy. Missy merely nodded timidly.

"I like your hair," Lizzie said, referring to the girl's think white-blonde hair in pigtails tied with matching pick ribbons on the top of her head.

"…Thank you," she said, her voice barely audible (well, would have been barely audible if Lizzie didn't have heightened senses, but, of course, Lizzie knew nothing about that).

Lizzie was distressed. Surely, she had just made two friends right? Well, she had tried to make three, but the boy, who's desk read Tyler, was being rude. Josh seemed nice enough as a friend, or at least, she t_hought _he seemed nice enough, the whole friend-making thing was new to her, and Missy, well, she couldn't get her to say more than a few words to her.

Maybe she wasn't so good at this friend-making thing.

Suddenly, her teacher, Mrs. Peterson, stood at the front of the class.

"Welcome kindergarteners," she announced, "I am your teacher, Mrs. Peterson. Now, I know a lot of you are nervous right now, but I promise, this is going to be a great year. We are going to learn so much and we're going to have a lot of fun together. But first, I think that we should play a game to get to know each other a little bit more. Everybody, form a circle over here on the carpet."

All the students got up to go make a circle, all of the students, that is, except for Missy. Lizzie noticed this.

"Come on, Missy," she grabbed the girl by the wrist, towing her along, "Let's go play." Missy seemed surprised by the forceful action from the dark-haired girl, but said nothing as she was pulled along to join the circle.

"Alright," Mrs. Peterson clasped her hands together once everyone was in the circle, "Here's throw it goes. I'm going to throw this hacky sack to you and ask you a question. Then you will catch it, answer the question, and throw it to someone else, while asking them a question. Here's the trick though," she said to the students, "You have to say the person's name before you throw it."

The students blinked at each other. That was going to be difficult, considering that most of them didn't know each other's names.

Lizzie mentally scolded herself; she should have made more friends.

"Okay, here we go," Mrs. Peterson held up the brightly colored hacky sack in her hand, "Peter, what's your favorite color," she said, tossing the ball to a surprised blonde boy with bright blue eyes. Lizzie smiled, that was one more name than she knew a few seconds ago.

"Um…gween," he answered, barely managing to catch the ball.

"Good," Mrs. Peterson smiled, "Now throw the ball to someone else and ask them a question."

Peter looked around the room.

"But I don know anybody elfs names," he lisped.

"That's okay. The whole point of playing this game is to get to know everybody. Now, who do you want to throw it to?" she wondered.

Peter pointed to a spiky, red-haired boy across the circle.

"That's Hunter," Mrs. Peterman said quietly, "Now, say his name, ask him a question, and throw the ball." Lizzie grinned, now that was five names of her classmates that she knew.

"Hunter," Peter said and the red-haired boy looked up from his light-up-sneakers that he had been pounding on the floor, "um…what's your favorite animal?" Peter tossed the ball, badly, sending it too high in the air and stopping short of Hunter by about two feet.

"A tiger," he answered, picking up the hacky sack off of the floor.

And so the game went on like this, throwing the ball at random people, asking them questions. Lizzie had the ball thrown at her four times, to which she responded by tossing the ball once to Missy, and the other three times to people who had not yet gotten to speak in the circle.

Finally, the game ended, and Lizzie felt that she knew everybody's names.

"It's time for recess," Mrs. Peterson announced, the class cheered, and lined up, single file at the door.

Lizzie rolled her eyes when she saw that Missy was lagging behind. She went back, once again towing the girl behind her.

"You know," Lizzie said, "If you're gonna be my friend, you're gonna have to keep up." Lizzie had always been assertive and a little bossy, but depending on what kind of person you were, it either worked out or backfired. It worked with her brother, and apparently, with Missy.

"Friend?" Missy asked, confused. Then a smile lit up her face and she happily bounced along behind Lizzie.

Lizzie almost felt sorry for the girl. Why was she so shocked that someone wanted to be her friend? Had her parents not told her that that was the point of the first day of kindergarten?

They arrived on the playground to see that Grayson's class had already gotten there.

"Hey Grayson," Lizzie grinned, "Missy, this is my brother Grayson. Grayson, this is my new friend Missy."

Grayson looked at Missy. In that moment, there must have been some disconnect between his brain and the rest of his body because he just stood there, mouth slightly agape, staring at Missy.

"Grayson…?" Lizzie asked, waving a hand in front of his face, "Gray-gray? You in there?" she wondered.

That snapped him out of it.

"I told you not to call me that," he glared at his sister.

"And…?" Lizzie trailed off, smugly.

"Come on Missy," Lizzie grabbed her by the arm, "Let's find someone not ennoying to talk to."

Throughout the course of the day, Missy had opened up a little more to Lizzie as they sat and talked in the shaded sand of the playground, underneath the slide, and while they sat next to each other in class. As they soon discovered, they had a lot in common. They both liked to watch Nickelodeon, jump rope, swing, and swim. They both liked dogs and cats and horses. They both liked spaghetti, mac n' cheese, chocolate ice cream, and hotdogs (although Missy said that she wasn't allowed to have hotdogs because her mom hated them).

"Well maybe you can come over to my house for hotdogs sometime," Lizzie suggested, to which, Missy nodded happily.

After school, Danny and Sam picked up their children at the front of the school. Lizzie wanted to say goodbye to Missy, but her nanny (a word that Lizzie had just learned that apparently meant, substitute mother) had already picked her up.

"Mommy, Daddy!" Lizzie exclaimed to her parents, "I made a lot of new friends. I know all the kids in my class!"

"That's great sweetheart!" Sam gave her a hug, "What about you Grayson? Did you make any new friends?"

"Yep!" Grayson grinned, "We played kick ball in PE."

The two kids climbed into the back of the car.

"What's our surprise!" Grayson exclaimed.

The surprise! In the excitement of the day, Lizzie had completely forgotten!

Danny and Sam shared one of those knowing-parent look with each other before Danny met his son's eyes in the rear-view mirror.

"You'll see."


	12. Training

Training

Danny POV-

"Daddy why are we up here?" Lizzie asked as we stood on the top of an apartment complex.

"Don't get too close to the edge," Sam squeaked as Grayson inched closer to look at the city below.

"He'll be fine," I said, "It's not like we can't save them if they fall off," there was an obvious smirk in my voice, and I was hoping that my kids heard it.

Lizzie did but she didn't say anything, instead, she just gave me a bizarre look.

"Go ahead," I grinned, "Fall off, I'll prove it," Grayson almost looked like he was about ready to accept the challenge.

"Danny! No!" Sam warned, "Grayson, Lizzie DO NOT listen to your father."

"She's right, don't listen to me. I think that classifies as bad parenting, and I'm sure the police would be wondering _why _you two were on the roof in the first place. But that's not to say we _couldn't _save you," I smirked.

"Why a_re _we on the roof?" Lizzie asked.

"Well, we told you we had a surprise for you," Sam replied.

"Okay kids, come over here," I waved them to where I was sitting on top of an air-conditioning machine, "Okay, you know all of those stories I've told you about Phantom?"

They nodded.

"Well they weren't just stories…" I told them, they looked at me confused, "They actually happened, just, not exactly the way I told you they happened. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"You lied to us?" Lizzie remarked, with her mother's tongue.

"Yes, but, we did it to protect you. Because, if you had known the truth, you could have put other people in danger and been in danger yourself. But, now that you've started school, we think it's time that we tell you the truth," I looked at Sam, who nodded back at me. I took a deep breath, and Sam and I transformed into our ghost halves.

"I'm Danny Phantom," I said simply.

"But—but—but—you've both been in the same place!" Grayson protested.

"You mean," I duplicated myself, and made him transform back to his human form, "Like this," my duplicate and I said in unison. I recalled him back into my own body.

Lizzie ran her fingers over the scar on her forehead.

"I remember…" she muttered, barely above a breath. Sam and I looked at each other, we had been afraid of that. The last thing we wanted either of our kids to remember was the ordeal with Vlad, and they had been so young, we thought that there was no way they _could _remember. Apparently not.

Suddenly, the same look of remembrance crossed over Grayson's face. Since they were babies, Sam and I have been convinced that Grayson and Lizzie share some kind of telepathic connection (even though they, obviously, aren't identical twins), which, we think, they had shared just now with Lizzie's flow of memories. We hope, that maybe, when we begin to teach them how to use their powers, that we will be able to get them to strengthen that bond between them as well.

"That's right, guys," Sam nodded sadly, "Those memories you are feeling right now, are real, they weren't just a dream."

"So we were kidnapped?" Lizzie asked.

"Yes, sweetheart," Sam told her.

"There was this lullaby…and then there was you, and then there were explosions," Lizzie said frantically.

Sam nodded, putting her arm around our panicked daughter.

"It's okay sweetheart, it's just a memory. You're safe now," Sam rubbed her arm, kissing the top of her head.

"Why us?" Lizzie asked finally, now that she had calmed down.

"Because," I sighed, standing up, "You guys have ghost powers too."

Their eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?" Grayson asked a mix of shock, awe, admiration, and joy on his face.

"Yep. Surprise," I smirked, "And, we're, going to train you."

"You're going to train us to kick ghost butt like you?!" Lizzie grinned, the solemn edge to her voice gone, as she grinned up at us.

"Well, that sounds like someone I know," I said to myself, thinking about Dani and what she had said shortly after I met her: "You want to ask questions or do you want to kick some butt."

"First things first," Sam handed them some white and black Hazmat suits, "You're going to want these."

Sam and I made them invisible so that they could change.

When they were done, we took down the invisibility.

Their suits were different from mine and Sam's, and different from each other, of course, that was courtesy of Sam's designing skills.

"The first thing we need to teach you," I told them, standing in front of my children, "Is how to transform."

They grinned in anticipation.

"Okay," I told them, "You feel that power, right here," I asked them, pointing to my chest. They mimicked me, putting their hands over their chests, waiting to feel something. They must have felt it, because they both looked at me, nodding, waiting for what to do next, "Now, close your eyes. Relax the tension in your shoulders, come on, shake it out," I playfully shook their shoulders. They laughed, eyes still closed, but now, visibly relaxed, "And focus on pulling from that power in your chest."

Their closed eyes squinted tighter in concentration and, for a second I worried, that maybe they hadn't gotten the ability to transform at all, like Sam hadn't been able to in the first few months of her pregnancy. But suddenly, two blinding white lights appeared. The fact that they appeared at the same time, I felt, had something to do with their telepathic connection.

As the light traveled up their bodies, slowly, being that it was their first times, I'm not sure I have actually ever been more proud.

Finally my children opened their now, neon green eyes.

"Did it work?" they immediately asked in unison, before looking down at themselves and then looking at each other.

"Whoa!" they said at the same time, taking in their twin.

Lizzie gently touched her brother's arm, and suddenly, a large wooden box on the roof exploded in bright green light. Lizzie immediately retracted her hand, holding it close to herself. Lizzie and Grayson exchanged a look and then they looked at us. Suddenly, Sam and I were out of the loop.

"You guys know that you're connected, don't you?" Sam asked. They nodded.

"We used to get dreams and see stuff before it happened and sometimes we feel what each other is feeling," Lizzie admitted.

"Well, don't worry. We'll teach you how to control it and use it, but, for right now, I wouldn't stand so close to each other," Sam said, instinctively, they both took a step back, Lizzie nearly falling off of the roof. Sam and I both lunged for her, but, as it turned out, our efforts were unwarranted.

Lizzie had just figured out that she could fly.

"Weeeee!" she cried happily, flying in circles around the roof, reminding me of how Sam reacted the first time she figured out that she could fly.

"I want to fly too!" Grayson whined. I smirked, coming up behind him and tossing him in the air. Sam was waiting to catch him, in case he fell down, but he didn't. He managed to stay in the air, joining the air show his sister was creating.

Sam and I chuckled, floating in the center of our spastic five-year olds.

We trained them on the rooftop for several hours, managing to teach them most of my more-basic powers: invisibility, intangibility, and a ghost ray, although they still needed a little practice. Finally, they collapsed on the roof, changing back to human form, happy but completely exhausted, the way you feel after spending an entire day at the amusement park.

"We need names!" my daughter affirmed.

"Okay what do you want your names to be?" Sam questioned them.

"I want to be The Gray Phantom!" Grayson announced dramatically and we laughed in response.

"Okay, Gray Phantom it is. What about you Liz?" I asked her.

"Lizzie Phantom, I guess?" she shrugged.

"Hmm…" I thought for a minute, "How about your middle name. Luna Phantom."

At this her eyes lit up and she smiled widely.

"What about mommy?" Grayson asked, "Does she have a name?"

I glanced at Sam, we hadn't really talked about it. Very few people knew about her anyway, aside from a few reporters who captures "Another Mysterious Phantom" around Amity Park. But they didn't even give her a lame nickname. I suppose, now that we would be training the kids around the city, sometimes in broad daylight, people would see her and she would need a name. We knew we couldn't very well call her Sam Phantom or Samantha Phantom. The people of Amity Park may be clueless, but they aren't stupid. _Somebody w_ould catch on.

"Phantom Angel," I said after a minute, smiling at her, at my angel. I looked at my kids, "What do you guys think?"

They beamed, approving of my name choice.

"Okay, Phantom Angel it is," Sam yielded a few seconds later. The sun was just starting to go down, and, from where we were sitting, we had a great view of the sunset reflecting off of the lake in the park, the river around the city, and the pier in the distance. It reminded me of the night I had proposed, and, catching the look out of the corner of Sam's eye, I knew that she was thinking about the same thing.

"Wait a minute?" Lizzie asked, suddenly, "Does that mean that you're the tooth fairy?!" Lizzie cried out.

"No, no, sweetie, it's like I told you. She was busy so I was on tooth fairy duty. The tooth fairy and I are actually good friends, that's why she asked me to do it, especially considering that you two are my kids," I covered up. She breathed a sigh of relief. It's funny with how old she sometimes act, how old they both act it's hard to forget that they're only five and still need to believe in things like Santa and the Tooth Fairy.

"You two know that you can't tell _anyone _about this, right?" I reminded them, realizing that I hadn't quite embedded that into their minds yet. They nodded, "No. I mean it," I reinforced, "You cannot tell _anyone _outside of our family, your grandparents, Dani, Valerie, Tucker, or Jazz and her husband. And by grandparents, I only mean Grandpa Jack and Grandma Maddie. Do NOT tell your Grandpa Manson," I amended. Since her talk with him at the supermarket last year, Sam's dad has stepped up a little, to the point where our kids now call him Grandpa. "And don't tell anyone at school, not your teacher, not your principal, not your new friends. No one. Not even by accident. You have to always be careful what you say so that nothing slips out. You guys have to promise me to keep this a secret, if you don't you could be in really big danger and so could everyone else, not to mention you will be in gigantic trouble with me and your mom. Promise me," I looked them both in the eye, conveying the seriousness of the situation. They seemed to understand, nodding solemnly.

"We promise," they agreed.

"Okay, good. You are both official members of Team Phantom, now." I breathed a sigh of relief at their promise, and they lit up at their official acceptance into the secret we had held for so long.

"Speaking of new friends," Lizzie broached slowly, "Um…can I have a friend over for dinner tomorrow night? She loves hotdogs but her mom never lets her eat them…so um…can we have hotdogs for dinner tomorrow?" she wondered.

"Sure honey that sounds like a great idea. You two can walk home together," Sam said.

"Speaking of dinner, can we go get some? I'm starving!" Grayson pleaded.

"Jeez you sound like Tucker," Sam rolled her eyes, but she stood up to leave. Our kids made a move for the stairs we had come up.

"Have you guys forgotten?" we called to them, transforming into our ghost forms, "We have a better way of going down."

They grinned, transforming and standing next to us on the ledge of the building.

"All you need is faith, trust, and ghost powers," I changed a line from one of their favorite Disney movie. It was one that, between the ages of three and four, was constantly playing in the DVD player, and one, which I'm pretty sure, Sam and I could quote, nonstop, word-for-word.

They giggled, obviously recognizing the reference.

"Alright guys," I said, "Here we goooo, off to Neverland," we jumped off of the roof, launching upward in a very Peter Pan fashion.

Under her breath I noticed Sam begin to sing "Think of the presents you've brought. Any merry little thought. Think of Christmas, think of snow. Think of sleigh bells. Here we go! Like a reindeer in the sky. You can fly! You can fly! You can fly! You can fly!"

We were certainly attracting a lot of attention from the people below, four Phantoms, flying in a line.

We waved to the people and I could almost hear the gossip begin to buzz.

'_Oh well, I guess I'll find out in the papers tomorrow morning,' _I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.

The four of us stopped, invisibly, in an alleyway, before changing back, and going to enjoy some quality, family, food at The Nasty Burger.

Quality, yeah right.


	13. Nightmares

Nightmares

Sam POV-

I'm not sure if it was a result of the adrenaline and chocolate milkshakes in their systems or if was because of the memories about what Vlad had done to them, resurfacing. But, both Grayson and Lizzie had nightmares that night.

At one o'clock in the morning, Grayson and Lizzie appeared at our bedroom door. I moved Danny's arm off of me and he grunted, groggily, waking up.

"Did you have a nightmare?" I guessed and they nodded, Grayson clutching Smokey and Lizzie holding Lulu.

"Come on," Danny said, and both of us scooted over, leaving room for our children between us. I'm just glad that Danny and I had remembered to put our clothes back on.

They cuddled up, stealing our pillows, and their askew limbs taking up the majority of the bed. So, yeah, not the most comfortable way to sleep.

It had been like this when they were younger too. Always both of them, at the same time, always the same dream, which, wasn't really a dream. It was a memory turned nightmare.

They had recounted the dream to me, several times. But before, I had only listened so that they could have it off of their chests. I knew exactly what the dream was about.

When they were taken from their cribs by Vlad, we hadn't been there. And it broke my heart every time they told us their dream.

"Mommy," I remember a three year old Lizzie crying, "Dere was dis horrible vampir ghost monster wif blue skin and fangs standin over me. And den he picked me up and I was screamin and yellin for you and Daddy, but you weren't dere and he took me and Grayson. And din he said 'I'm gonna kill your mommy and daddy,'" this was usually the point where she would break down crying, and it took all my strength not to cry too, because she had been right, we weren't there, and, as a result, they were taken away from us and held in that prison in Vlad's mansion while he told them horrible things about how he would kill us.

Of course, over the years, we had tried to convince them that everything was okay and that it wasn't real, but, as they found out today, it was. And that was, probably more than anything, the reason that they were in our room tonight. Not because the dream still scared them the way it had when they were younger, but because they now knew that it had actually happened to them, and worse than that, that it could happen again.

The thought itself was keeping me up, long after the twins fell asleep and began to snore softly between Danny and I.

"Sam, you awake?" Danny whispered.

"Yeah," I whispered back.

"Can't sleep?" he guessed.

"Yeah," I said again.

I felt some of the weight leave the bed and I knew he had phased out, so, I followed his lead, going into the kitchen where he had started to make coffee.

"Don't you think it's a little late for coffee?" I asked quietly.

He shrugged, "Or early, depending on how you look at it. You want some?" I thought about it, then I realized that it was unlikely that I would be falling back asleep any time tonight.

"Sure, why not," I sighed, sitting at the table in the breakfast nook, he chuckled at my response, waiting for the gurgling of the coffee pot to start. When the aromatic flavor began to fill the room, he poured our glasses, sitting down next to me. He knows exactly how I take my coffee: four packets of sugar, no cream or milk.

"So what's worrying you tonight?" he asked, taking a sip of his still-scalding coffee.

"The same thing that's worrying you," I pointed out.

"What makes you think something is worrying me?" he asked. I arched an "Are you kidding me right now" eyebrow in his direction.

"Humor me," he said in response to my look. I rolled my eyes with a sigh, taking a sip of my coffee.

"Well, it's just. I hate that dream. I hate how it actually happened and that we weren't there to stop it, and I hate that now they know that it was real and that we hadn't been there for them. And, I hate how it is likely to happen again," I told him.

"Hey, we don't know that for sure," he reminded me and I gave him another look, "No I'm serious. Sure, we know he's coming back, but we don't if he'll try to kidnap them again or that we won't be there to stop it this time. And, you can't feel guilty about that either, what were we going to do? Stay next to Grayson and Lizzie their entire lives? It was going to happen at some point."

"You're lecturing _me _about holding onto guilt? You hold more guilt about things than anyone I've ever met," I told him.

"Then I ought to know what I'm talking about, right?" he joked, making me smile.

"It just sucks that they really have to grow up so fast, I mean, you didn't get your powers until you were fourteen and you still had to grow up too quickly," I sighed.

"Hey, it's not like we're going to let them cut class and save the city like I had to, that's what we're here for. And plus, I think you've forgotten, it wasn't my powers that made me grow up quickly, it was the fact that, two years later, we were parents," Danny took a sip of his coffee.

"No, I haven't forgotten. How could I, the result is sleeping in our bed right now," I replied. He chuckled lightly.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked me.

"No," I half-lied. Sure, I wasn't feeling as guilty or upset right at this moment, but that doesn't mean the feelings weren't still there, bubbling beneath the surface.

"Oh really?" Danny wagged his eyebrows at me, scooting closer until he was pressed next to me, kissing my neck, "How…about…now?" he said between each kiss.

"Mmm…" I moaned lightly, biting my lip, "That_ is_ better."

He kept kissing me, and suddenly, I was sitting with my legs over the side of table instead of in my chair, Danny ran his hands under my shirt, massaging my breasts.

"Danny…" I whispered, "We can't…the kids…" it was hard to complete a sentence with him being more than a little distracting.

"They won't wake up," he replied, his voice husky and oh so sexy.

"Are…you…sure?" I asked, although it was becoming harder and harder to care.

"Yes."


	14. That's Not True!

That's not True-

The next morning, Danny and Sam dropped their children off at school on their way to work. Though they had been able to fall asleep relatively easily the night before, after being woken up by their memories, both of the twins still seemed visibly shaken.

"Bye guys, love you," their mom called out behind them as the two got out of the car.

"Love you too," they called back in unison.

They were silent as they walked through the entry to the school.

"Are you still thinking about the dream?" Grayson asked his sister, she nodded, though she hadn't needed to, he already knew the answer.

"By Lizzie," he said as they passed her classroom first.

"By Gray-gray," she teased back, going into her classroom before he could respond.

Lizzie hung up her backpack going to sit at her desk. She was early, earlier than any other student in her class. Mrs. Peterson, who had quietly been reading a book behind her desk, took notice of the young girl's punctuality.

"Hey Lizzie," she said, making conversation with the girl. She hadn't expected her to converse back. With most kindergartens, at least, at this time of the morning, they would say hi, and the conversation would be over.

"Hi Mrs. Peterson," the dark-haired girl replied, smiling at her teacher and catching the thirty-three year old woman off guard.

"Did you sleep well last night?" she asked, noticing a light dark circle beneath the girl's eyes.

"Kinda," Lizzie shrugged, "I had a bad dream," Lizzie's eyebrows pulled together, thinking about the dream.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mrs. Peterson broached.

"No," Lizzie shook her head.

"Okay then," Mrs. Peterson smiled, "I saw you yesterday, making lots of friends and including Missy in a lot of things. That was really sweet, and I think it meant a lot to her."

"Thanks," Lizzie grinned, looking through the contents of her desk.

Well, the conversation was effectively over, but it was more than what Mrs. Peterson had expected to get out of the girl.

Slowly, but surely, the room began to fill with kids, and, once again, Missy was the last one to enter the room before class started.

Sure, she was still playing shy, but when she caught Lizzie's warm smile, she brightened up a little.

"Guess what?" Lizzie beamed, "My mom said that you could come over to my house tonight for hotdogs."

Missy smiled.

'_Still not talking much,' _Lizzie thought, '_well we'll fix that eventually.' _

That afternoon, Grayson, Lizzie and Missy walked home together.

'_What is wrong with Grayson?' _Lizzie wondered about her brother who had been uncharacteristically quiet, despite her prodding for conversation, '_He hasn't said anything to me since this morning?' _

"Mommy!" she called as they walked through the front door, "We're home!" The smell of cooking hotdogs had already filled the house, despite the early afternoon hour.

"Mmm…" Missy smiled taking a deep breath of smell of the forbidden yet beloved food.

"Hey guys," Sam said, coming from the kitchen around the corner, "…Is this your friend?" Sam's slight hesitation was unnoticed by her children and by Missy.

Of course, Sam knew who the girl was, even if she hadn't seen her in Paulina's tow on the first day of school, the bright hair and eyes certainly gave her away.

"Mom, this is Missy," Lizzie introduced her friend, "Missy, this is my mom."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Fenton," Missy said in a quiet, shy, voice, and, with more words than Lizzie had ever heard her string together.

Sam smiled, putting her bias about the girl's mother aside.

"It's nice to meet you too, Missy. Lizzie tells me that you like hotdogs," she said.

Missy nodded eagerly.

"But my mommy never lets me eat them," she said finally.

"Hmm...I'll bet," Sam muttered under her breath, low enough, that only Lizzie and Grayson caught her words. Normally Sam would respect another parent's decisions about what their child can and cannot eat. But _this _was Paulina's daughter, which meant that she had no issues, whatsoever, defying her 'fear-of-fat-and-carbs' wishes.

"Well, dinner will be ready soon. Do you guys have any homework?" the kindergarteners shook their heads.

"Well, then," Sam smiled, "Why don't you go play in your bedrooms or in the playroom."

"Come on," Lizzie tugged at Missy, "Let's go put your stuff in my room."

Sam chuckled at her daughter's slightly abrasive tendencies, which, reminded her a lot of herself. Though judging by how closed-off and shy Missy seemed to be, a little of her daughters pushing may not be an altogether bad thing.

Lizzie's room was a light purple, but with various other shades, greens and blues, and yellows decorating the space as well. In a collection on her dresser were various pictures in homemade frames that she had made at her and Grayson's fourth birthday party. Pictures of her and Grayson together, pictures of their parents and them with their parents, pictures of them with their grandparents and Aunts. There was even a picture taken from her parent's wedding, with her in a lavender dress, sitting on Phantom's lap. Which, she hadn't realized until yesterday, that they picture she found so unique above the others, was just another picture of her with her dad.

"You know Danny Phantom?" Missy asked, astounded. But behind her astonishment, was a little bit of hurt that Lizzie, being as intuitive as she was, couldn't help but notice. However, she did not immediately remark on her friend's dejected undertones.

"Yeah, do you?" Lizzie pressed, keeping a vague angle to her question, knowing that she wasn't supposed to say anything about her dad's secret or her own.

"Not really," Missy sighed.

"What's wrong?" Lizzie decided to ask.

"Well…it's just that…my whole life, my mom told me about my dad and stuff and how he couldn't come and visit me…but…he can visit you. And the newspaper said that he had a new family, a ghost family…" it took Lizzie a few seconds to process what she was saying.

She was saying that Phantom was her dad! That Lizzie's dad was _her _dad!

Lizzie wanted to exclaim that it wasn't true, but she knew that she would be breaking the rules her parents had set for her about their secret (and, although she was usually okay with breaking their rules, her dad had seemed far too serious about it the night before). So, instead, Lizzie kept her mental freak-out to herself.

Thankfully, the dad in question popped his head in the room to announce that dinner was ready.

Missy stood up, happy to go get some hotdogs. She looked at her friend who still sat on her bed.

"Go ahead, I'll meet you in a sec," she tried to smile encouragingly. Missy shrugged, walking passed Danny and to the kitchen.

Danny noticed his daughter's distress.

"What's wrong honey?" he wondered, sitting on her bed next to her.

"Missy says you're her dad!" Lizzie cried, "But I know that can't be true so why would she say it!"

Danny was quiet for a second. He had feared something like this would happen. The real Phantom kids becoming friends with the girl Paulina had successfully convinced was also Phantom's kid.

"Because, sweetheart," Danny sighed, "That's what her mom told her."

"But why?" Lizzie asked.

"Because, in high school, her mom had been kind of obsessed with me, so, when she had Missy she decided to tell people that I was her father. Which, I can assure you, I'm not," he rubbed his daughter's back.

"So she doesn't have a dad?" Lizzie inferred.

"Well she does, but he doesn't know that he's her dad, and she doesn't know that he's her dad. So no, honey, she doesn't have a dad in her life. This is probably why it has been so easy for her to believe that I was her dad," he told her.

"So what should I do?" Lizzie asked.

"Nothing," Danny replied, "You should just let her keep believing what she has been told."

"But it's not true!" Lizzie exclaimed, hot tears welling in her eyes and beginning to spill over. Danny used his thumb to wipe the tears off of her face.

"I know honey. But, if you told her the truth, it could hurt her really badly," he sighed.

"What do you mean?" Lizzie asked, the truth was supposed to be a good thing, wasn't it.

"Honey, I know Missy's mom, so I know that she probably doesn't have a very good life at home. Believing that I'm her dad, has probably given her some hope, even if it is fake. I mean, who wouldn't want me as their dad, I've done a pretty good job, right?" he joked, making Lizzie laugh, "And, if you tell her, then all she will have is a mom who doesn't care about her and who lied to her, and a dad that she will never get to know, understand?"

Lizzie nodded, "I think so."

"Good, now go eat hotdogs with your friend before Grayson steals them all," he said standing up. Lizzie grinned at him, bouncing off down the hall.

Danny grinned to himself, another crisis (in the eyes of a five-year-old) averted, well, for now, at least. He was sure that this issue would come back up, especially, when they both got a little bit older, with a slightly better understanding.

He wondered what Paulina had told her, or what she had said about how Phantom had a new family, which had been printed on all of the papers. Or, if she had even told her about that at all, maybe she had just let Missy figure it out on her own.

'_Sure,' _Danny thought, '_our family is messed up. There is no doubt about that, half-ghosts and clones and ghost-hunters, and an evil half-ghost psychopath after all of us. But, Missy's family may be even more dysfunctional. I mean, her mom doesn't give a crap about her, and she has lied to her about me being her father all these years without even giving a thought to how Missy might be affected if she ever finds out the truth. But, who cares about her daughters feelings so long as people continue to think she slept with Phantom, right? It makes me sick."_

Danny walked into the kitchen, seeing Missy seated between my kids in the extra chair we always had at the table.

Danny chuckled lightly to himself, thinking that she would probably be a permanent fixture in their house without a real family to go home to.

'_Just like Sam had been at my house,' _he smirked to himself.

**Okay, I know these last couple chapters have been kind of a four-shot instead of a one-shot, but I really don't do one-shots much, I prefer longer stories (despite the amount of work they are to keep up with). The rest of these one-shots, should actually **_**be **_**one-shots, although they will still, obviously remain connected to each other. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.**


	15. Parent-Teacher Conference

Parent-Teacher Conference

Danny POV-

"I'm telling you Sam, I think Ms. Jean has it out for Grayson," I insisted, whispering so that Grayson and Lizzie, walking in front of us, wouldn't hear me.

"Danny, you're overreacting. This is a _required _parent-teacher conference for all the kids at school. We have to go to one for Lizzie too," she replied in the same hushed tones.

I knew that, but it wasn't the same, I could feel it. And, if anyone knew about being singled-out for parent-teacher conferences, it was me.

Sam caught the expression on my face and rolled her eyes, "Danny, it's fine. They'll probably just show us some of their artwork and try and get us to buy things from the PTA, that's all," she gently put her fingers through mine as we walked down the kindergarten hallway.

Neither of the kids were exactly thrilled to be here, especially considering they were let out of school for early dismissal hours ago, and considering that they would have to sit in the hallway while we talked with their teachers, but, all of my family members, Tucker, and Valerie, had been busy so we couldn't find a babysitter.

"Okay, you guys sit _right here,_ and don't move," Sam ordered, "We'll go into Lizzie's classroom first."

They scowled at us, sliding down the wall onto the linoleum floor.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," Mrs. Peterson smiled warmly at us, sitting at a circular table, "It's nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you, too," Sam smiled as we took the open (small-sized) chairs across from the teacher.

"Sorry, about the chairs," she chuckled a little, "I asked for adult-sized chair for this parent-teacher conference, but I can't get the main office to do anything for me. Anywho," she smiled, "We're here to talk about Lizzie."

"You have an incredibly smart daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," she said, pulling out a portfolio that I suspected held all of Lizzie's work, "She is so eager to learn," Mrs. Peterson beamed.

"Thank you," Sam and I smiled, hearing her praise our daughter. Of course, we have always known how smart she and Grayson both are, though it is nice to hear that another adult has seen the same thing.

"She has made a lot of friends," Mrs. Peterson told us, "I think it's because she is so friendly to everyone. It's a problem to think that, even in kindergarten there would be a social hierarchy among the students, but, unfortunately, there is. It's my job as a teacher to make sure that nobody feels left out, and I'm delighted to say that your daughter has made my job much easier. She has surpassed all of those invisible boundary lines, playing with everyone on the playground, even the kids who are often sitting by themselves."

Sam and I grinned in pride. Lizzie sounded so much like her mother, in fact, if it hadn't been for Sam doing that exact same thing, playing with the outcasts at recess, she never would have met Tucker and I.

"She's also very artistic and resourceful," Mrs. Peterson told us, pulling some artwork out of a portfolio, "This," she said, pointing to a picture colored with crayons and markers and shapes of construction paper, "Is something that we made on the first day of school. All I said was, 'make anything you want on a sheet of paper,' and she got to work. Most of the kids only used their crayons and markers, but Lizzie started cutting out shapes of construction paper, which, of course, inspired all the other kids to do the same."

"She said, it's supposed to be her family," Mrs. Peterson added, turning around for us to get a better view of the paper. Sure enough, it is her family. She had cut out a purple triangle for Sam, drawing a head, arms, and legs (with boots), off of it, and coloring the top with black hair. I was a blue rectangle, with, apparently, very spikey hair, and Grayson, was an exact, smaller, copy of me. In the center of it, larger than everybody else (as children tend to do), was Lizzie herself, wearing a green triangle.

"Aww," Sam smiled, running her fingers over the artwork. There were several other pieces of artwork, but they had been assignments for something they were learning (something my daughter had still been able to change to be different than everybody else's), and none were as personal as the one of our family.

"Are there any problems that we should know about?" Sam asked after a while.

"Well," Mrs. Peterson chuckled, "She is full of energy, all the time. But, I wouldn't consider that to be a bad thing. This day and age, people will find anything to get kids to sit down and shut up, that's why we have such an obesity issue in America. But, it is my personal belief that kids should be able to be kids, and if that means letting their boundless energy run wild so that they can be themselves, so be it."

"I completely agree," Sam smiled. Of course she agreed, that was Sam and my parenting philosophy to a tee. Letting them play, express themselves, and be who they are (so long as they're not giving away any secrets). It was why our kids don't have iPods or iPhones or iPads. We didn't have those things growing up, and somehow we survived, so our kids shouldn't have them either, they will get a Lite-Brite and an Etch-A-Sketch, and they will like it. As Sam puts it, "giving children access to too much technology at a young age only encourages them to be lazy and to conform to society."

"Well," Mrs. Peterson smiled, "I think that's all I have to talk to you about," she stood up, shaking our hands, "It was nice seeing both of you again."

"Nice seeing you, too," we replied, in unison, picking up the portfolio, and going into the hallway.

Had our children listened and waited where we told them?

Hell no.

Well, not exactly, they had found a way to avoid what we told them to do, by sitting on the ceiling instead of on the floor.

"Get down from there," I scolded, hoping that nobody had seen them. Still smiling in that "Look-we're-breaking-the-rules" way, they reluctantly floated down from the ceiling.

"Lizzie," I turned to her, knowing it had been her idea. It was _always _her idea. Sam says she gets it from me but I beg to differ, who was the one who said "Go inside the portal," "Let's change the school menu," "Let's let the gorilla out," that's right, not me.

"You know you're not supposed to be using your powers in public," I reprimanded her.

"Why do you always blame me?" she stamped her foot.

"Was it your idea?" I arched a knowing eyebrow in her direction. She didn't answer; she merely scowled at the floor.

"That's what I thought. And Grayson," I turned to my son, "You should know better than to listen to your sister, she is always getting you two in trouble."

"Now stay here," Sam warned before we walked into Grayson's classroom, "_On the floor, _not _in_ the floor, not on the ceiling, and not in the wall, or you are both in big trouble, understand?"

They nodded.

"Good, then we'll be back out soon," Sam smirked, and we entered Grayson's classroom. Ms. Jean looked up cheerfully, then, upon seeing that it was us, her face darkened a little, with a fake smile still plastered to her face. I knew I wasn't just being paranoid.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," she said tightly, "How nice to see you. I've got a lot I would like to discuss with you about Grayson."

Uh, oh. That doesn't sound good.

"Such as?" Sam asked, she must have picked up the weird vibe off of Grayson's teacher, because there was definitely some defensive hostility behind her voice.

"Well, first I would like to say that he is an incredibly smart young boy, with a wide capacity to learn. He has made many friends, and is always very helpful and eager to please around the classroom. He takes time out of his recess to help me clean up sometimes, and, at recess he is a natural leader, organizing games with lots of other students from other classes. He also seems to be very athletic, and I could see him excelling easily in sports," she told us, somehow, I'm still failing to see what is wrong with this. The athleticism, I knew, had not come from me. Sam, even though she had never joined a sports team, had still been one of the strongest, most physically fit, girls in our high school class. And as for the natural leader thing, well, both of my kids are strong enough to take charge in a situation. But apparently, Lizzie must be the stronger leader because she can always get her brother to do what she wants.

"However," Ms. Jean added, oh, here it comes, "There are many times when he seems to be spacing out, looking out the window, instead of paying attention in class. And then there is the matter of," she rifled through his portfolio, pulling out several sheets of paper, and laying them out in front of us.

They were all of me, well, my ghost form, at least.

"These weren't for a particular assignment; he was just drawing them by himself. But I find them to be an object of concern," she told us.

"And how _exactly, _are they concerning you," Sam bristled. We were both beginning to get pissed off now. For one thing, if it wasn't for an assignment, my son can draw whatever the hell he wants and she has no right to pick it up because it is "concerning her."

"Well," Ms. Jean swallowed, sensing our obvious irritation with her, "I have seen his notebooks and his lunchbox and the glass necklace that he always wears, so I know that you two are encouraging his obsession with Danny Phantom. However, I just don't think that it's healthy. If you see in this picture, he wrote 'Daddy' below Danny Phantom, which shows me that he is beginning to think of this ghost in a paternal way, instead of you…" she directed her comment at me, "I just don't think it's safe for him to idolize a ghost as a role model."

I was ready to explode, literally. It was taking every ounce of my will power from keeping my eyes from turning green at the moment. I could tell by the way Sam clenched an unclenched her hands that she was equally as volatile.

"You're not from Amity Park, are you?" was all she asked, surprisingly calm, although venom dripped from her words.

"Well…um, no," Ms. Jean replied.

"Then you have no idea how big a part ghosts play in children's lives, _especially, _Danny Phantom. For one thing, he's a hero, so, _of course, _he is seen as a role model. If one of your students was obsessed with Batman, would you say anything? Of course not, because Batman is human. Sure, many ghosts are evil, but many humans are evil too. And, _Danny Phantom, _is not one of those evil ghosts. And another thing, Danny Phantom, is a close family friend. He was in our bridal party, he has been to all of our children's birthday parties, and he knows our children by name, just as they know his. And another thing, if it was not for an assignment, our son can draw whatever he wants and he shouldn't have to be afraid of _you _picking up his work because you're afraid of it being inappropriate," Sam ranted. By now, she was struggling to control the glow in her own eyes.

She clenched he fists again. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, although I could tell that she was far from calm.

Ms. Jean was speechless.

"Bottom line," I continued, "Leave the parenting to us, and let _us _determine is something is inappropriate or not for _our _son." We picked up the portfolio, walking towards the door to leave.

"I have to monitor behavior in my classroom, for the safety of my students," she said.

"For the safety of your students?" Sam questioned, whipping around, "And e_xactly, _what is so dangerous about my son? Did he bring some kind of weapon to school? Is he using bad language around the other students? Did he intentionally hurt, intimidate or harass another child? No. You know why? Because we raised our children to know not to do such things. The only thing that Grayson is guilty of is something that we also raised him to believe: not fearing someone because they are different. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination because of race, ethnicity, national or religious minorities, and against women, and, although this does not explicitly state 'ghosts' under the 'do-not-discriminate-against' list, it should be inferred, because we live in America and all people, living and dead, no matter what, are entitled to live here, free from persecution so long as they follow our laws. Now, we're going to leave before I say something I will regret. But I don't want to hear about you singling out my son or telling people not to trust Danny Phantom again, or I will have a lawsuit on your head faster than you can blink. Do I make myself clear?"

All Ms. Jean could do was nod.

"Good. Good day, Ms. Jean," and with that, we stalked out.

With a loud, annoyed, sigh, Sam shut the classroom door behind us.

Our kids looked at us confused, although I can't say that they seemed to be surprised.

"It's okay guys, mommy's just a little mad," I told them, instinctively, they took a step back. Smart move, Sam likes to throw things when she's mad.

"It's okay, I'm fine," she took a deep breath pinching the bridge of her nose. She reached into the portfolio and pulled out Grayson's drawings.

"I think these belong to you," she smiled, handing them to our son. He blinked in surprise, looking a little embarrassed, "These are yours and she had no right to take them away from you, okay?" she asked him and he nodded a little, "And if she ever takes your drawings away from you again, you tell me, okay?" he nodded again.

"Good. Now I need a hug from my two very smart kids," Sam told them, and Lizzie and Grayson rushed into her arms, "Grayson," she said, ruffling his hair, "I heard you're really good at organizing teams at recess."

He nodded again.

"How would you like to start playing sports?" she wondered. His eyes lit up and he nodded happily.

"And Lizzie, I heard that you are nice to everyone at Recess," Lizzie nodded with a wide smile.

"Well that's a very good thing. You know, I hadn't been nice to the people nobody liked, I would have never met your dad and Tucker, and you guys would not have been born," she told her, Lizzie looked between the two of us, wide-eyed, "I also some of your pictures. They are very pretty and you are very creative," Sam continued, "Would you like to start learning art or music?"

Lizzie beamed, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, nodding happily.

Sam smiled at them, smoothing down their hair again.

"How about we all go and get some ice cream?" I suggested they broke out of Sam's hug, running to me and cheering. Sam glared at me, but there was amusement in her eyes.

We walked back out of the school to the car, our energetic kids skipping in front of us.

"You were right," Sam muttered quietly.

"I'm sorry, can you say that again? I don't think I heard you?" I teased, she smacked me on the chest.

"You were right. I'm sorry I didn't believe you about Grayson's teacher," she told me.

"It's okay, Sam," I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, "I actually wish that I hadn't been right. Then we wouldn't have had to get into it with his teacher."

She chuckled a little.

"This is the kind of thing I have been worried about that first day when you bought me the pregnancy tests and your mom flipped out over 'Phantom having kids,'" she sighed, "I worried that, if anyone ever found out, they wouldn't be able to except them."

"Of course they would. We have great kids, ghost powers or not. And, hey, most of the town still believes that Missy is mine, and people seem to accept her," I joked.

Sam shook her head, "Danny, it's not the same and you know it. Even if people do still believe that, Missy doesn't have any powers. Teachers wouldn't consider _her a_ danger to the rest of the class."

"Hey, what else is new. Ms. Jean a_lready _thinks that Grayson is a danger to the class," I replied, unable to contain the bitter edge to my voice.

"Yeah…" she muttered softly.

"I suppose, you could always get some 'no-discrimination-against-ghosts' legislature passed," I added with a smirk.

"Yeah," she chuckled humorlessly, "I guess." Of course, neither of us believed it. Even _if _Sam got laws passed saying that our kids could not _legally _be discriminated against, that wouldn't help all of the negative feelings that might come from people around them.

"But how about," I suggested, "We just focus on _not _letting the secret get out."

"Sounds like a plan," Sam agreed, as we piled in the car to go get some ice cream.


	16. Jazz's Baby

Jazz's Baby

Sam POV-

I remember the day that Jazz had decided to tell everyone that she and Rob were expecting.

She had gathered everyone in the Fenton Works living room, the same room where so much big news has been shared over the years.

Of course, I kind of expected what she had to tell us. Jazz had confided in me that they had been trying to get pregnant for a while now. But, they received some news from her doctor that it might not happen for them, so Jazz had started looking up adoption sites.

But, over the past couple weeks I noticed that she had put on just a little weight. I suspected that they waited until the end of her first trimester to tell everyone, just in case, she lost the pregnancy. I knew hope important her pregnancy was to her, if she lost this one, there was a strong possibility that she wouldn't be able to conceive another.

Thankfully, she had not miscarried in the first three months, because there we were, on the same couch, waiting to hear what she had to say.

Jazz could barely contain the excitement on her face and I detected a little of that pregnancy glow that women who have had children can easily spot (I noticed that Danny's mom seemed to have a knowing look on her face too).

"We're expecting!" Jazz squealed in delight. Of course, congratulations were all around.

"Expecting what?" Grayson asked, looking up from the Hot Wheels cars he was running along the coffee table, "A package?"

"No sweetie," I smiled at my son, "She means that she and Rob are going to have a baby, and that you and Lizzie will have a new baby cousin."

"How far along are you?" Danny's mom wondered.

"Twelve weeks," Jazz beamed, yep, I was right, she had waited just long enough for the doctor to tell her that she could, safely, share the news.

"Do you know what you're having yet?" Danny asked.

"No, Danny, _some _of us actually have to wait a little longer to find out these things," Jazz teased referring to the fact that our babies, and my pregnancy in general, progressed much faster than anybody else's. Danny chuckled.

"That's right," Danny smirked, "I forgot how much slower humans are."

Jazz stuck her tongue out at him, a childish gesture at odds with the news and with her overall attitude.

"Do you have any names picked out yet?" I wondered.

"If it's a boy we were thinking Matthew, and if it's a girl we're thinking Erika," Jazz told us, running her hands over her stomach, probably unconsciously, I know that when I was pregnant with Grayson and Lizzie, I found myself rubbing my stomach a lot.

A few weeks later the ultrasound revealed that they would be having a boy.

And his name will be, Matthew Robert Pierce.

And, because Jazz had thrown _me_ a baby shower, it was my turn (obligation) to throw her one.

Hers was a little easier to plan; for one thing, only one baby instead of two, for another, I wouldn't have to invite the entire junior class of girls. But, the thing that made it the easiest to plan was probably was probably when she gave me her list of everything she wanted and the order she wanted it in, color-coded.

Yes, sometimes planning things for someone with OCD can have its advantages.

The baby shower went over easily, a jungle-themed party (because that's the theme she would be decorating the nursery in), with jungle themed snacks and baby themed games and a jungle-baby cake (yes, still unsure how exactly Mrs. Fenton was able to pull t_hat _one off). There were only about twelve people who attended, and four of those people were me, Mrs. Fenton, Dani, and Valerie. Even still, I think Jazz had a great time, and she got a lot of presents, too. They came, not only from her guests at the party, but also from the people who weren't able to attend (most notably, Rob's parents and extended family who live in Michigan).

Three months after the baby shower, Matthew was born.

He looks the most like Jazz, they have the same facial features. And the soft, downy hair he was born with on the top of his hair was the same color of orange as hers. However, he was born with Rob's same, warm, brown eyes.

The birth of a new cousin (which Grayson and Lizzie obvious weren't allowed to _watch), _did however, spark some interesting questions in our own household.

"Daddy?" Lizzie asked one night at dinner, while playing with her steamed vegetables instead of actually eating them, "Where do babies come from?"

Danny's eyes widened and I chuckled, resting my elbow on the kitchen table and putting my chin in my hand, just wanting to see how he would answer this question.

"Yeah, Danny, tell them," I grinned smugly. He glared at me, working up a story in his head. By now, Grayson had stopped frosting his entire plate with mashed potatoes and looked up in curiosity.

"Well…" Danny squirmed, "There's another planet far, far, away where there are all of these…baby seeds. And there are some for every family that are stored in ice cold chambers. Then…when a mommy and a daddy decide to have a baby, they make a call to the seed fairy who unfreezes the seeds and delivers them to the parents. But this seed can't grow without love and warmth…so um…mommy eats the seed and it grows in her tummy, and then, nine months later, it is a baby that is ready to be born…" Danny lied. It was creative, I'll give him that, probably not the lie I would have told, but definitely creative.

Grayson squinted his eyes in thought, then he turned to look at me. He studied me for a few seconds before turning back to his dad.

"Where does the baby come out?" he asked. I choked, I had not been expecting that question.

Clearly, Danny hadn't either as he struggled to formulate an additional lie.

"Um…mommy's stomach blossoms like flower and the baby is in the middle," Danny covered, grimacing a little, probably at the strange mental picture he had just created.

"Does it hurt?" Lizzie asked me.

"Yes, sweetie, it does," I decided to be honest, "But, it's worth it in the end."

"You mean that you got Grayson and me?" Lizzie clarified.

"Exactly, sweetie. And if I had the choice, I would do it all again in a heartbeat," I replied, looking at Danny, knowing he felt exactly the same way.


	17. A Very Magical Christmas

A Very Magical Christmas

Christmas Eve, and the joyous spirit was present among the Fenton household. Since Grayson and Lizzie had been born, Jack and Maddie had agreed to put aside their yearly squabble so that their grandchildren would know the Christmas spirit more than their son had growing up. Danny had brightened up around the holidays too, for the sake of his kids, that is. And Sam, well, Sam had always been enraptured by Christmas despite the fact that she was raised in a Jewish (or semi-Jewish, considering neither of her parents had ever actually practiced their faith) household.

At Fenton Works, Maddie, Sam, Dani, and Jazz, were making Christmas cookies, an old Fenton recipe. Grayson and Lizzie sat at the table, anxiously waiting for an opportunity to lick raw cookie dough off of the spoon, while in the living room, Matthew dozed in the portable Pack-N-Play crib (which Jazz and Rob had brought for him to sleep in while they were staying in Amity Park), under the distracted eye of his father, Danny, and Jack, who were all interested in a hockey game.

"It's so nice to have you home for Christmas," Mrs. Fenton beamed to her eldest daughter. Jazz, while still with the full responsibility of motherhood on her shoulders was still working on getting her P.H.D. in psychology at Yale. She only has about a year and a half more to go in order to earn her degree, but then, of course, she has to work on her supervised study so that she can apply for licensing as a certified psychologist.

"Yeah," Jazz smiled in return, "It's nice to be home. I mean, Connecticut is beautiful in the winter, but I'd much rather be here with all of you so that Matthew can spend his first Christmas around family."

For Grayson and Lizzie, decorating the tree was always their favorite part, aside from licking the spoon and opening presents of course. And now, that their ghost powers were (more or less) mastered, (although their dad assured them that once they were teenagers, their hormones would make them have to relearn all of their powers), they could decorate the taller sections of the tree with ease. They had set up the tree almost immediately after Thanksgiving, the whole family joining in the fun.

Another good thing about decorating the tree? It got all of the guys off of the couch.

Mrs. Fenton had turned to the radio station that had been playing Christmas music since the week _before _Thanksgiving, much to the annoyance of many Amity Park residents, who desired to keep their holidays distinctly separate. The radio itself was from 1998, but the speakers sent the festive, whimsical music into the air like new.

In the past, thee adults had avoided handing Grayson and Lizzie the delicate glass ornaments, but, this year, Mrs. Fenton decided to trust them.

"Here you go, Grayson," she handed him a hand-blown glass ornament, "Don't drop it. And remember to wrap the hook tightly around the branch." Grayson had nodded, moving carefully with the ornament in his hands. Seeing her brother with a new responsibility, Lizzie, was immediately jealous.

"Here's one for you too, Lizzie," her grandma had laughed.

"It's getting late," Sam said as their baking started to go longer than they had expected, "We should get home, we don't want to miss Santa."

Unintentionally, Lizzie and Grayson both yawned.

"Daddy will you carry me?" Lizzie asked him.

"Honey, you and Grayson are too big to be carried now," Danny replied. It's not that he couldn't carry her, he was Danny Phantom after all, but, if she was carried, then Grayson would want to be carried and it dissolved into more of a mess than he wanted to get into.

"Why don't you float to the car?" he suggested. Normally, he and Sam would discourage power usage while in human form, or, when their as a chance that they would be spotted by a human bystander, but, it was Christmas, and he couldn't bear to disappoint his little girl. The twins grinned, though they must have been more tired than they let on, no doubt from the nights of staying up in anticipation for tonight, because they floated at a more lackadaisical pace out to the car.

"Bye everyone," Sam and Danny waved goodbye, "See you tomorrow."

Christmas Day was always a busy day for Danny and Sam, well busier since Mr. Manson had decided to step back into Sam's life. Now, not only did they have to wake up and open presents with their kids, but they had to go to not one, but two, dinners: one Christmas, and one Hanukah.

"Did I tell you about the time when I was trapped in a Christmas Story by the Ghost Writer?" Danny smiled at his kids as they got them ready for bed. He had told them, several times, every Christmas since they were two, to be exact (though it was more truthful now that they knew his secret). It was a favorite of both of the twins who sat expectantly on Grayson's bed. In most houses, parents would tell their kids "The Night before Christmas," in this house they were told "The Fright before Christmas," but it suited them just fine.

"Alright guys now go straight to bed," Sam warned, after Danny had finished telling the story, "Or Santa won't be able to come."

It didn't take Danny to break down and carry his daughter to her own bed.

With the lights turned out, the parents went back downstairs.

And Lizzie hatched a plan.

Several hours later, she phased into her brother's room, poking him (hard) on the shoulder until he woke up.

"What!" he whisper-shouted when the poking had become to annoying and painful to ignore.

"Come on," she grinned, "Let's go."

"You heard what mom said, if we're up, then Santa won't come," her brother protested.

"Oh come on," Lizzie scoffed, "Let's just something that Santa tells parents so that kids won't wake up and ask him for better stuff. Well, we won't do that. I just want to see him."

"It's not gonna work," Grayson groaned, rolling over.

"You've seen the movies and heard the stories, of course it works. And, besides, if it doesn't work, what's wrong with getting up?" Lizzie questioned. Realizing that she wasn't going to stop bothering him so that he could go back to sleep, he stood up, dramatically swinging his feet over the side of the bed.

"Fine," he sighed. Lizzie grinned in victory, and the two phased downstairs, invisibly hiding behind the couch.

"This is stupid, he's not going to come if we're here," Grayson glared at his sister.

"Shh…" Lizzie pressed a finger to her lips.

"What if he already came, and we missed him?" Grayson supposed.

"He didn't. I've been up, I would have heard the sleigh bells," Lizzie countered.

"Then what if he didn't come because you were awake. What if he still isn't going to come until we're—" Grayson went quiet as the sound of jingling sleigh bells rumbled overhead.

Lizzie shot Grayson a smug glance, but he wasn't paying attention, he was fixated on the space at the bottom of the fireplace. Suddenly, their ghost senses went off, right as a fat man in a red suit, pushed himself through the opening. He stood up, dusting the soot and ashes off of himself, as he went to his work, pulling presents out of his large red bag and setting them under the tree before moving on to the stockings.

"Grayson, Lizzie," he said in a voice that you would expect from Santa Clause, "You can come out now."

The twins were surprised to have been caught and slowly came out of their hiding spot, turning visible, but, not realizing that they had not returned to their human forms, as they grinned at St. Nick, guiltily.

Then, Grayson happened to look down, and he realized that they were still in their ghost forms and he frantically whispered to Lizzie.

"Ho, ho, ho," the man bellowed, "That's quite alright Grayson, I already know." Grayson blinked, wondering how the man had heard him.

"I know everything, well everything about everyone at least, I don't know what will happen in the future, I leave that up to Clockwork," he chuckled, and his stomach, the kids realized, _did _look like a bowl full of jelly.

"You know Clockwork?" Lizzie asked about the ghost who had been their dad's long-time ally and who had officiated their wedding.

"Oh, sure. How do you think that I get to all of those houses in one night," the man asked with a twinkling in his blue eye, "Plus, I am a ghost, it's kind of hard not to know Clockwork."

"You're a ghost?" Lizzie asked, astounded.

"Ho, ho, yes, Lizzie, I am. I think you might have noticed that your ghost sense went off when I came down the chimney, right?" Santa asked her, now that she was thinking about it, it had gone off, "Oh, and how do you think I've been able to get in and out so quietly without being seen for centuries? Granted, I had been alive once, by the name of Kris Kringle, spreading joy to children despite what the law allowed," the jolly ghost smiled fondly at the memory. "Anyway," Santa said, "I have something for both of you," and, in his hand he created two, brightly colored, wrapped candies.

Lizzie and Grayson each took the candies out of his hands (despite what their parents had told them over the years about taking candy from strangers. Come on, this was Santa they were talking about) and carefully unwrapped them, popping them in their mouths.

It was a flavor unlike anything Grayson and Lizzie had ever tasted before, it was like every flavor of the things they loved, and no flavor at the same time, because the candy was designed to stimulate their very favorite memories, flooding them with warmth and happiness.

But the candy was also designed to put them to sleep, quickly.

As they started to feel the drowsing effects of the candy begin to take their hold, they sat on the couch. Santa gave one last "Ho, Ho" before saying his goodbyes to the twins and shooting up the chimney almost as if he had been in a cannon.

The last thing that Lizzie and Grayson heard before sleep descended upon them was:

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" along with the soft jingle of sleigh bells.

You can imagine Danny and Sam's surprise when they woke up to see their kids sprawled out, half on top of each other, on the couch the next morning.

When they woke their children, Grayson and Lizzie recounted them the details of the night before.

Danny and Sam smiled, obviously under the assumption that it had all been a dream.

But Lizzie and Grayson knew better, it hadn't been a dream, but it had been a very magical Christmas.


	18. Can We Keep It?

Can We Keep It?

"Okay, okay," Danny told his children, "This is your first unsupervised ghost fight. Don't underestimate your opponent; let them underestimate you, which they will all do, because you are children. But they will also not go easy on you, because they know that I'm your father. Don't wear yourselves out by blasting away right from the start, witty banter is always useful. Oh, and don't be afraid to call me on the Fenton Phones if you can't handle it, okay?"

Their ghost senses went off again.

"Yeah, daddy, we've got it. No problem," his daughter replied confidently.

"Okay," Danny sighed, not believing that he was about to send his seven year olds to fight their first ghost without him, "Be careful!" he called as they phased out of the house.

"Relax Danny," Sam rubbed his arm, "They'll be fine, we trained them well," although it didn't escape his notice that she was slightly more tense than normal.

"Where is it?" Lizzie asked her brother when they flew outside looking for the ghost that had piqued their ghost senses.

"How am I supposed to know?" Grayson replied, slightly annoyed at his sister's question. Lizzie glared back at him, prepared to give a smart remark, but suddenly, their ghost senses went off again.

They floated, almost back to back, but not touching, never touching. Not only because they were seven and it wasn't cool to hug your sibling, but, because, the connection between the two of them was something they still hadn't mastered.

Danny figured that they couldn't master it, because he didn't know how to teach it, none of his powers worked that way, they were all conceptual and instinctive, done by thought, or by a natural response to something that had happened, none of his powers were triggered by another person, as much as he would have like that person to be Sam.

So instead, they had learned all of the other powers, always staying an arms-width apart for fear of explosions, electrical shorts, and other bizarre occurrences that happened when they touched each other. Thankfully, it only happened in ghost form, although, sometimes, in human form, when they are mad (usually at each other), the air around them becomes incredibly, electrically, charged. Not all of Danny's powers had been divided fairly, either. Only Grayson had ice powers, although, a few environmental changes around Lizzie, made Danny and Sam realized that she might have a power over plants, reminiscent of when her mother had been controlled by Undergrowth. Although, for some reason, her mother herself, did not seem to have these abilities.

Those were, yet again, something Danny didn't know how to teach (of course, they still were not sure she had the powers, so he could not begin to teach her how to use them).

Lizzie knew nothing about her possible plant-controlling abilities, but sometimes, she would find herself slightly envious of her brother's cryokinesis. But then, she would find Grayson freezing on a day that would only seem slightly cold to her (as a result of his ice core) and she would laugh.

Right now, though, she wasn't focusing on the abilities that her brother had and she did not, they were waiting for a ghost.

"Anything on your side?" Grayson asked.

"Nope, not yet," Lizzie replied, turning around and facing her brother, "Maybe it left."

Suddenly, there was a growl and both of their heads snapped to the space in front of them, where a massive, green-colored, ghost dog floated.

"Whoa," they said in unison, holding up their hands which glowed neon green, ready to blast at the extra-large pooch.

"Nice, doggy," Grayson gulped.

Suddenly, the dog stopped growling, cocked it's head, taking a tentative sniff in their direction. Then, his tail began to wag and, what could most accurately be understood as a smile passed over the dog's slobbery jowls.

Then, there was no longer a vicious canine, but, in his place, was a much smaller, yipping puppy.

"Aww," Lizzie smiled, dropping to her knees while still floating in the air, and patting her lap, encouraging the dog to come.

"Um…Liz…I'm not sure that you should do that," Grayson pointed out, but it was too late, the dog had already plowed it's small form into her lap, effectively kissing her entire face.

"Down boy," she told the dog between giggles, "Go see Grayson!"

"Oh, no. Lizzie don't send that dog over here—" again, it was too late. The small puppy leapt into Grayson's arms, covering his entire face in slobber. And Grayson was not amused as he glared at his sister who simply burst out in laughter.

"It's not funny!" Grayson replied, angrily, wiping away the slobber on his face with his sleeve.

"Oh come on, Gray-gray," she teased in return, "Let's go to the park and play with him!"

"But—" Grayson tried to argue with his sister, but she had already flown off to the park. He sighed, keeping up with her, and keeping her out of trouble, was a full-time job. Finally, he flew after her.

"Where are they?" Danny paced anxiously, "They should have finished by now."

"They've only been gone fifteen minutes," Sam placated.

"Which is ten minutes longer than it should have taken them," he fumed.

"Honey, it takes _you _five minutes, this is their first time, so of course it will take them a little longer. But, if it makes you feel any better, we can go look for them," she said.

Danny immediately transformed, ready to go look for their twins. Sam sighed, transforming too, as both of them flew out of the house in search of their kids.

They found them, much as Sam knew they would. Even with the treat of kidnapping always still there, Sam somehow knew that they were alright.

Danny cleared his throat, floating over his kids.

"Oh…hi daddy," Lizzie smiled sheepishly, "Look, we found a dog."

"Why didn't you guys call us? I was worried sick about you," Danny crossed his arms.

"I _told _you we shouldn't have gone to the park," Grayson crossed his arms a Lizzie, mimicking and looking exactly like his father.

Lizzie glared at him, deciding to put on the charm and get on her dad's good side.

"I'm sorry Daddy," she batted her periwinkle eyes at him. Suddenly, the dog seemed to recognize his former master an barreled into Danny's arms.

"Cujo stop!" Danny laughed after receiving a thorough face-licking.

"Daddy can we keep him, pleaseeee!" Lizzie begged, giving her dad a pleading pout. Grayson, who had grown to like the dog while they had been playing with him in the park, stood next to his sister, looking hopefully at his dad, hoping for a "yes."

Danny merely looked at Sam. He had always wanted a dog growing up, and had never gotten one, so, he was inclined to agree immediately, but, it was Sam who had the majority of the deciding power in their relationship, and, more importantly, in their family.

With three pairs of eyes on her, four, if you count Cujo.

Sam sighed, caving in.

"Fine, but you two had better be responsible, I mean it, you better walk him, and I don't want to step on any invisible dog doo on the carpet," she warned. Sam realized that there really wasn't much of a better dog to give them. He didn't even need to be fed.

"Yay," her children cheered, and Cujo leapt happily into Sam's arm, but she held him at arm's length before he had a chance to bathe her face with his tongue.

He yipped happily, and she pulled him back against her, but holding him tightly so that he still couldn't lick her face. Sam smiled, scratching the little green puppy behind his ears, and then setting him down so that he could run to her children.

Cujo came home with them, and immediately settled into a domesticated lifestyle, spending his first night cuddled up on the carpet in the hallway between Lizzie and Grayson's rooms. Already ready to guard them if need be.

It was a comforting side effect of taking in the rambunctious pup.

"So I guess they still need to have their first unsupervised ghost fight, huh?" Sam asked as the two parents got ready for bed.

"Don't remind me," Danny sighed, climbing into bed next to his wife, tenderly kissing her.

Sam smiled at his concern for their kids, kissing him back, before they both turned off the lights and went to bed.


	19. Another Wedding

Another Wedding

Sam POV-

Well, guess what?

I was right, but it certainly took them long enough to do it.

That's right Tucker and Valerie are finally getting married.

Tucker had proposed through a very techy, yet, incredibly Tucker way. He had stolen her digital camera, and had had Danny photograph him holding signs that said "Will" "You" "Marry" "Me?" all around Amity Park, in places that were special to both him and Valerie.

Then, he claimed that he had "accidentally" borrowed her camera, from her dresser, in her room, in her house, (which, of course, she didn't buy). But, before she could get mad at him for stealing her camera, he asked her to upload the pictures. She told me that she had rolled her eyes, but agreed to upload the pictures anyway, with him standing next to her at her desk. When they came up and she scrolled through them, there was Tucker, right next to her on one knee, with a beautiful (and also very large, because of the sales of his technology) diamond.

And, of course, she said yes.

Their wedding was held May, and I had been nominated to be the Maid of Honor, but, of course, it works, because Danny is the Best Man so the two of us would actually get to walk down the aisle together. Valerie and Tucker had insisted on adults-only, so, with Dani watching Lizzie and Grayson, we went to the wedding.

Like me, Valerie had decided against a church wedding, instead, holding her ceremony by this flat grass land next to the river. Thankfully, it was a sunny day, so the sun reflected off of the cool green water perfectly. The ceremony had been done, mostly in light colors, shades of yellow, gold, white, and crème, with just a few red touches in the flowers at the end of the rows of chairs and in the trellis above where they would recite their vows.

The music started and the bridal party got ready to walk down the aisle.

"This is the first time I've seen it from this direction," Danny mused quietly to me as we walked arm and arm down the aisle. I smiled, whispering for him to be quiet. Tucker was sweating, and it had nothing to do with the humidity. He was nervous. Probably, somewhere in his mind, he thought that Valerie would still not want to marry him, and, tragically leave him at the altar, which, the rest of us knew would never happen. She may be way out of his league, but Valerie loves Tucker just as much as Tucker loves her.

As Danny and I took our places, I noticed that Danny discretely handed Tucker something to wipe his face off.

"Thanks, dude," I heard Tucker mutter in response. The rest of the bridal party came after us, which consisted of Star (who was one of the only people who hadn't totally abandoned Valerie after her fall from popularity) and Dash, who was Tucker's only other option, although it's not like they were complete enemies anymore, Dash sometimes hung out with Danny and Tucker.

The music intensified and the guests turned around as Valerie walked down the aisle, escorted by her dad. Jazz and I had both opted out of having our dad's walk us down the aisle. Me, because, well, my dad didn't show up, and Jazz because, well, she couldn't be sure that her dad wouldn't embarrass her. Which, I'm sure even her dad knew, he very well might have.

Valerie looked stunning. Of course, I had already seen her dress, heck, I had been with her when she tried it on and decided that it was the one. But, she looked even more amazing walking down the aisle in it, with the sun glinting off of the folds in the fabric.

Her dress just a little off-white, almost eggshell, and it hung delicately off of her shoulder's much like Aurora's in sleeping beauty, except, without the sleeves. The rest of the dress was relatively form-fitting, hugging her curves perfectly, and flaring out at the bottom in an elegant mermaid cut. In her hands, she held a bouquet of vibrant Tiger Lilies, yellow trumpet flowers, and pale white roses, mixed in with some small red flowers to add just a bit of color.

Like I had done at Jazz's wedding, I cast a look at the groom. Tucker had, thankfully, stopped sweating, and was now looking at Valerie like a blind man who had seen the sun for the first time. The way that Rob had looked at Jazz, and the way that Danny had looked at me.

Finally, Valerie and her dad reached the end of the aisle, and her dad gave her away, although, I couldn't help but notice a few tears stood in his eyes, and, the second, he turned away to go to his seat, they began to fall quietly down his face.

Valerie stood next to Tucker, and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her, nearly missing his first cue. Actually, he did miss it, but he was quickly reminded when Danny subtly elbowed him.

The ceremony went like any other, although, I was half-surprised that no ghosts showed up to wreck it. They hate Valerie almost as much as they hate Danny, but, with Valerie, the feeling is mutual, and Valerie hadn't invited any of them to the wedding like we had so that we knew they wouldn't be making trouble. You wouldn't know it, but, strapped to her ankle, under the folds of the mermaid cut, was an ectopistol.

When the preacher said "You may now kiss the bride" Tucker kissed Valerie, dipping her in the most dramatic, over-the-top way I have ever seen anyone kiss on their wedding. But hey, that's Tucker.

The reception, which was only a short walk away at another restaurant located on the river, was decorated very differently from the ceremony, looking more like an upscale night-club than like a reception. Drapes of dark red fabric fell down from the ceilings and lined the walls. The table clothes had also been done in the same red fabric. The center pieces were mainly gold, with white accents and flowers pouring out of the metallic vases.

Even the plates were white and gold.

Tucker, being Tucker, had insisted on plenty of meat to be served at the wedding, and the caterer certainly did not disappoint. But, Valerie had made sure to set aside a vegetarian meal for me.

When we ate the cake, a three-tiered chocolate with raspberry filling, iced in white and lined with gold trim and red flowers, it nearly turned into a full-out food fight with the intensity that Valerie and Tucker had shoved it into each other's faces (which almost makes Danny and my cake incident seem inconsequential). Although, something tells me that Valerie and Tucker wouldn't have minded if it had turned into a food fight.

Also, being Tucker, he had organized every aspect of the technology of the wedding, and, trust me, there was a lot of technology. Handing on the walls were large digital picture frames that showed different pictures of Tucker and Valerie together.

He had also coordinated the DJ, the dance floor, the lighting, which was set to change colors throughout the night, and, the slideshow starting with them as babies and working up to their relationship together.

They had their first dance, with the squares of the dance floor changing color with each step they took.

I smiled. I'm glad that they're happy together.

I looked at Danny, who immediately read my mind, pulling me onto the dance floor as the other guests of the party began to join in. I smiled into the bright, blue eyes of my husband and he smiled back at me, still looking at me, exactly the way I had seen Tucker looking at Valerie only hours before.

After several hours into the night, we were all ushered outside for something else Tucker had orchestrated. Fireworks.

Valerie through her bouquet, although this time, I didn't even pay attention to who caught it, it didn't matter, all of my close friends who could get married, were now, already married.

They climbed into the back of their limo, their white Hummer limo, and went to the airport.

And where, might you ask were the armed bride and the tech geek going to spend their honeymoon?

Well, it certainly wasn't Fiji.

No, they had decided to honeymoon in, probably the only place they could go with the right amount of tech and danger.

Las Vegas.


	20. Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat

On Halloween and Lizzie and Grayson were ecstatic.

Lizzie was excited because she got to dress up and wear more make up than she had ever been allowed to before, and Grayson was excited by the amount of candy he would be receiving.

Several weeks before, everyone had went shopping for costumes, even taking Missy, who's mom had (unsurprisingly) made some lame excuse about why she couldn't help her daughter try on costumes, instead simply sending Missy with her platinum credit card.

The empty-storefront-turned-Halloween-warehouse was chaos. Danny and Sam shared a look as they were both pulled across the store in opposite directions: Danny with Grayson to the boy's clothes area, and Sam with Lizzie and Missy to the girls clothes area.

Within a few seconds, Lizzie had filled her arms with costumes she wanted to try on.

Of course, being who she was and, being the daughter of Danny and Sam, she didn't pick the Disney Princess costumes or the butterfly costumes. Instead, Sam noticed that the costume bags stacked in her arms consisted of Bat Girl, The Queen of Hearts, a Samurai warrior, The Joker, a fallen angel, a zombie, the "Bad Spirit" cheerleader, and Sally from The Nightmare before Christmas.

Sam shook her head, an amused smile playing on her lips. Of course her daughter would choose those costumes. With a bright smile lighting up her face, Lizzie bounced to the dressing rooms.

Missy, on the other hand, seemed to be having a difficult time deciding.

"What are you thinking, Missy," Sam asked the quiet, shy, girl who was so unlike her mother. In fact, since they had first started school together, two years before, Lizzie and Missy had been inseparable, and Sam had been around more, and more of a mother to Missy than Paulina would ever be.

Sure, Paulina was always there to give her daughter the best clothes, and occasionally pose with her in a picture before handing her back over to the maid, but as far as advice and mothering went, raising Missy was usually left up to Sam and her nanny.

Missy shrugged, still a girl of few words.

Sam glanced down at the four costumes in her arms: a princess (which, she had been for the past four years at Paulina's insistence), a pirate girl, a "sassy cat," and (and Sam nearly laughed out loud at this one): Luna Phantom.

It was true that her family had become popular icons, and she knew that there would be costumes (she and Danny had already explicitly informed their children that no, they could not be themselves for Halloween). On the costume bag was a girl, one of the same stock-photo girls that was on many of the other costumes, dressed in an outfit very similar to her daughters (although, nowhere near as detailed) with a white wig.

"Which one do you want to go as?" Sam asked the girl.

Missy shrugged, always making Sam's job harder than it needed to be. Sam pulled the bags out of Missy's arms.

"Do you _really _want to be a princess again?" she asked the girl.

"My mom wants me to be," Missy replied quietly.

"Well," Sam smirked, "Your mom isn't here."

At this, Missy brightened a little, realizing that Sam had just informed her that she did not, in fact, have to be a princess again.

"So, that just leaves three," Sam told her, "I really like the pirate girl, but, how about you go try these three on, and Lizzie and I will help you decide."

Missy nodded, heading to the dressing room.

By this time, Lizzie was almost already done making her decision, having gone through all the costumes in a matter of minutes with the aid of her ghost powers.

"Which one do you like, Liz?" Sam asked her daughter, sitting on the bench in front of the changing room.

"I like either the zombie or The Joker," she decided.

"Okay, try them both on, I'll help you decide," Sam told her. Sam knew, that the main reason her daughter had picked both of those costumes was because, in both scenarios, her face would get to be almost completely painted.

First, Lizzie stepped out of the makeshift dressing room in the zombie outfit.

The outfit was, well something you might expect from a zombie, torn, tattered, stained with fake blood, but still, it seemed ordinary.

"Try on the joker one," Sam told her daughter who turned around disappearing behind the curtain.

A few seconds later, she stepped back out, adorning a joker costume, compete with purple long-sleeves shirt, a green vest, and a purple blazer overtop. But, instead of the matching purple pants, the bottom was a green and purple tutu.

"I like that one," Sam grinned at her, "And now I can paint scars on your face."

At this, Lizzie smirked in devious satisfaction.

"Hey Missy," Sam called to her, "You should go as Harley Quinn then you guys can coordinate."

Sam hadn't actually intended for the girl to take her advice, but, Missy asked her to bring her the Harley Quinn costume to try on, and, evaluating the opinions of both Sam and Lizzie on her costume choices (the Luna Phantom choice immediately ruled out by both mother and daughter), Missy actually did decide on the Harley Quinn costume, which, had looked the best on her, besides, her blonde hair matched the character.

After the additional decision on a green wig for her own daughter, and the makeup she would inevitable be using on both girls the night of, the three went to the checkout line.

Danny and Grayson were already in line.

And what costume had Grayson chosen?

Ironically enough: Batman.

Sam smiled to herself, the costume choices could not have been any better if she had planned it herself.

Well, the pictures during trick or treating would be great, this year.

Sure enough, on Halloween night, Missy was dropped off at the Fenton household.

Apparently, her mom had put up a little bit of a fight about her costume because apparently "hanging out with that Goth loser and her family was beginning to rub off on her perfect daughter." Paulina hadn't expressly told this to her daughter, but the subliminal suggestion was there, Sam had no doubt. Of course, she no longer understood what Paulina held against her, they weren't in high school anymore, they were mothers and accordingly they should be mature adults. Plus, Sam wasn't even Goth anymore.

Of course, Missy had shown up, fully dressed in the alternating red and black costume, that ended in a skirt much like her own daughter's costume including the black mask, but no makeup, except for an ungodly amount of glitter had been put on Missy's face.

"Time for the paint," Sam announced and both of the girls became excited, gathering in her master bathroom.

Missy was barely allowed in her mother's room, and usually it was only if her mother wanted something, so being allowed to sit on the edge of the bathtub while Lizzie's mom helped them with makeup, was a treat for her.

Missy had her whole face painted white, her lips lined in black, and then, filled in with dark red lipstick. When she was done, she looked at herself in the mirror and was surprised to see that she actually _looked _like Harley Quinn, or at least what she had seen of her from watching reruns of Batman cartoons with Grayson and Lizzie. Batman, or anything else that would be considered "a boy thing" was not allowed in her house.

Lizzie's makeup took a little longer because the scars were difficult to get right. Sam, being the artist she was, put far greater detail into her daughter's makeup than she probably should have, but, the end result was worth it, the scars almost looked real.

When they were done, Sam and the two girls made their way back into the living room where Danny and Grayson were waiting. Sam laughed when she saw that Danny was dressed up too, he was wearing a Robin costume.

"Danny, what are you doing?" she struggled to contain her laughter at the fact that nearly everyone in this room as Batman themed, at the fact that that would make Danny their son's sidekick, _and _at the fact Danny looked ridiculous.

Danny shrugged, walking over to her, "I got you a costume too," he grinned.

Sam gave him a "you have got to be kidding me look."

"No," he said, "I'm serious it's in the closet, go try it on, please?"

"I better not look to ridiculous," Sam warned him, walking back into the master bedroom with a sigh, before laughing as she opened the closet.

Poison Ivy.

She rolled her eyes, putting on the green costume and the red wig and walking back out.

"There, now all the girls are the villains and us guys are the heroes," Danny said smugly.

"Fine," Sam sighed, "Let's just get some pictures, okay?"

She took plenty pictures of the kids getting ready to go trick or treating, and, even, eventually, surrendered to a few pictures of all of them together.

"Come on, let's go," Grayson whined (although he whined in a slightly deeper voice, trying to portray Batman).

"Okay, okay," Sam agreed and the three kids ran off ahead of Danny and Sam, running up to the neighbors' front porches saying "Trick or Treat" and having candy deposited in their pillow cases.

"You know," Danny breathed in Sam's ear, "I think Robin and Poison Ivy were a pairing at one point."

Sam arched an eyebrow at Danny.

"We'll see, Boy Wonder," she whispered back, winking at him, before walking passed him, catching up to the kids who had moved farther down the block.


	21. Another Bit of Big News

**Let me just start by saying that I am sorry for not writing for a little over a week now. I was on vacation in the Dominican Republic, and as beautiful and luxurious as it was, I am definitely glad to be back in a country where I can actually **_**understand **_**everyone that I am talking to, although I will miss the free food and tropical drinks sixteen hours a day. Anyway, I'm back, so here is another chapter for you. Enjoy.**

Another Bit of Big News

Sam POV-

I took a sip of my sangria as Danny and I waited at the bar. We were early for a change, early to our reservation and remarkably, earlier than Tucker and Valerie who would be joining us for dinner. Lizzie and Grayson were staying at his parent's house for the night, giving us plenty of time for relaxation with our friends.

I love my children to pieces, but sometimes it is nice to have 'adult-time' without them.

Sometimes my dad asks if the kids can stay with him, but I'm still a little hesitant. He kept his promise, at least to a point, he has been there for the birthdays, soccer games, and ballet recitals, but he really hasn't been there for all of the in-between moments in their lives. Plus, he lives much farther away, on the outskirts of a city that border's Amity Park instead of the five minute drive from our house to Fenton Works.

And, it's not that I don't trust my children's control of their powers but…sometimes, being around Danny and I and around his side of the family and around Tucker and Valerie who are, of course, fully aware of what they can do, and encourage them to use their powers…they might get just a little careless if they spent more than three hours around my dad.

Sometimes they even get a little careless around Missy. Thankfully, they always realize their mistakes before she takes any real notice of it, and thankfully, she hasn't suspected a thing (she's as clueless as her mom and the rest of this city). Lord knows what would happen if she found out, with her life already in such an…unstable condition, finding out that the person she thought was her father is not, and that he is actually the father of her best friends who have been lying to her their entire friendship, well, let's just say, I don't think she would take it very well.

It was a little passed 6:30 and with us supposed to meet them here at six, I was beginning to wonder what was taking Tucker and Valerie so long. But I wasn't going to worry about it. Yet.

Instead I focused on amusing myself by watching the already-wasted-off-his-ass man next to us, the one who had already hit on me, not one, but three times, despite Danny's somewhat…jealous tendencies.

"Hey guys," I heard a voice behind us, "Sorry we're late," Valerie smiled sitting at the bar next to us.

"It's okay," Danny and I answered in unison, although we were both clearly curious about their tardiness. I studied Valerie. She smiled widely at us and there was something familiar about the look on her face. I held back a grin of my own.

"We have your table ready for you, sir," the young hostess said to Danny as she led us to a table in the back next to a window.

"So why are you so late anyway?" Danny asked, picking up his menu and looking over the appetizers, I don't even know why he bothers looking anymore, we come here every month and we always order the same thing.

"Can I take your drink order?" a waiter, probably no older than eighteen asked.

Danny and Tucker ordered a beer, I passed on the drink, given my still ¾ full glass of sangria, and Valerie, who _always, always, _ordered a Cuba Libre, but this time only ordered the Coke…no rum. And, if I wasn't suspicious before, I most definitely was now.

"Can I start you off with any appetizers tonight?" the waiter asked.

Danny was about ready to order the seafood platter, the seafood platter we _always _order, but, Valerie stopped him.

"Can we get the stuffed mushrooms instead?" she asked.

Danny shrugged, thinking nothing of it, and ordered the mushrooms, but I knew better. No alcohol, no seafood, and a distinct glow…

Valerie and Tucker shared a knowing smile, before turning back to us.

"Do you have something you want to tell us?" I asked them with a smirk. Valerie seemed a little taken aback that I had guessed it, or, at least guessed that they wanted to tell us something.

Danny, as usual, was oblivious.

"Huh?" he asked, looking at Tucker for clarification.

"Is it that obvious?" Valerie asked me, ignoring Danny's confusion and smiling at me.

"Well it wouldn't have been if you hadn't changed the usual dinner order," I grinned back at her.

"Will someone please tell me what you are talking about?" Danny huffed in frustration causing Valerie and I to chuckle at his annoyance.

"So when did you find out?" I went on, continuing to ignore my irritated husband; it was just too much fun keeping him in the dark.

"Earlier today, we had our first appointment," Valerie replied.

"Do your parents know?" I wondered.

"Tucker's parents know, but were waiting until tomorrow to tell my dad," she told me.

"Okay, seriously! What are you talking about? Know about what?" Danny exclaimed. I rolled my eyes, all these years and he's still just as dense.

"Dude," Tucker grinned at his best friend, "Valerie's pregnant."

A look of realization crossed over Danny's face followed by a smile.

"Congratulations man," he high-fived Tucker, "It's going to be nice not to be the only ones with kids anymore."

"Yeah," Tucker beamed, I was pleased to see him so excited, "We're definitely going to need your guy's help."

"And when your kid's like five, _our _kids can babysit," Danny remarked.

"A win-win situation for both of us," Tucker grinned and they high-fived again. Valerie and I simply looked at each other sharing an eye roll.

Twenty three, and fathers (or soon to be fathers) and still mentally children themselves.


	22. Tucker's Baby

Tucker's Baby

Sam POV-

Nine months after receiving the news that Tucker and Valerie were pregnant, we were waiting for her to give birth. At four and a half months they found out the gender of their baby, a little girl. And they would be naming her Ebony Jean Foley.

I'm not sure I've ever seen Tucker so excited about anything. I mean, of course he should be excited for the birth of his first child, but he is _really _excited, almost more excited than Valerie, who, at this point, just wants the baby out.

She's already passed her due date so they set a date for them to induce labor. Tomorrow.

We, of course, are not allowed in the delivery room, that privilege would be reserved solely for Tucker and Tucker's mom, but, Valerie insisted that we all, including me, Danny, Jazz, Dani, Lizzie, and, Grayson, be in the waiting room with Valerie and Tucker's dads.

"So _where _do babies come from?" Lizzie asked Danny. She was testing him, I could tell, making sure he would stick to his original story. She is clever like that. Perhaps I shouldn't be _proud _of the deceit and trickery in my daughter, but, what can I say, I can't help it. She reminds me too much of myself.

"Um…" Danny blinked, trying to remember what he had said nearly two years prior, when Jazz had had Matthew, "Why don't you ask your mom."

And, of course, my children turned their full attention onto me. Well, I was _not _about to tell two eight year old the _real _way babies are made, nor could I remember their dad's fabricated lie well enough that they wouldn't call me on it.

"Why don't you ask me again when you're older, okay? At least fifth grade," I told them, knowing that they would come right back to me the second school let out their fourth grade year, asking me that same question. No amount of time would ever make me _want _to give "the talk" but, eventually, it would have to be done, "When you two are in fifth grade, Lizzie, you can ask me, and Grayson, you need to ask your dad, okay?"

They nodded, a little annoyed at my response.

The next day was spent, mostly in the waiting room. So far, Valerie had been in labor for five hours. The circumstances surrounding my delivery might have been terrible, but, at least I didn't have to spend five hours doing it. Both Grayson and Lizzie were born in less than ten minutes.

Unfortunately, Grayson and Lizzie were bored. The still-twelve-year-old Dani was doing her best to occupy them, but even she looked a little tired of sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs of the sterile environment, while allowing two eight year olds to play on her iPhone.

_Finally, _Tucker came out and announced that Valerie had given birth and had been moved to a room where we could all come in and see them.

Ebony was born seven pounds nine ounces. And, despite having children of my own, and, more recently, seeing Jazz's son (who, for a change, had decided to stop pouting), it still astounds me how small babies are when they are born. Valerie smiled up at us, Ebony wrapped in a pink blanket and tucked neatly into her arms. Sweat clung to her forehead and I imagined she had to be exhausted, but she was still overjoyed to finally be holding her daughter. _That _was a feeling I knew well.

Even with the wrinkled features associated with newborns, it was easy to see that Ebony took after Valerie more than she did Tucker. Having just been born, her skin was slightly paler than both of her parents (even though I knew it would become darker soon) and she had a few small curls of hair on the top of her head.

Ebony squeaked in a yawn and her eyes blinked open momentarily before she shut them once again. They were the same shade of green as both of her parents, making it impossible to know who exactly she had received her eyes from. Either way, they were beautiful.

"She's so cute," I whispered quietly.

Valerie handed Ebony off to Tucker who gingerly took her into his arms, reminding me of how hesitant Danny had been to hold Lizzie and Grayson the first couple of weeks, just because newborn babies are so small.

Tucker supported her head, and walked slowly into the circle of people eager to meet the newest member of the world.

With a smile, he gave Ebony over to Valerie's dad, who held his first grandchild in his arms with a proud smile.

"Let me see!" Lizzie exclaimed, standing on her toes, fighting to get a better view of Ebony, with Grayson right behind her, also trying to see, but not being as vocal as his sister (he never is. For some reason he always lets her be the assertive one).

With a chuckle, Valerie's dad lowered Ebony to a level where both of my children could see her. Lizzie cocked her head to the side, studying Ebony. Even though she had seen Matthew after he was born, I'm not sure she quite understands why babies are so small and funny-looking after they are born. Of course, I am inclined to keep it that way.

"Can I hold her?" Dani asked Valerie who nodded, motioning to her dad to hand her daughter over to Dani. Dani took the tiny bundle in her arms and lowered herself in a chair, just in case, "She looks just like you," Dani grinned at Valerie.

"Yeah, but she'll probably look more like Tucker when she ends up needing glasses," Valerie chuckled, casting a look at Tucker.

"But she'll be smart," Tucker retorted, "And tough," he added after a few seconds.

Valerie smiled.

"I'm happy for you guys," I told them.

"Yeah," Danny agreed, "And I'm happy you finally caught up with us…well, kind of."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Tucker said, "Just give me, a scale of one-to-ten, how bad is it going to be when we finally take her home."

All the parents in the room, Danny, myself, Jazz, Tucker's parents, and Valerie's dad, shared a knowing look.

"Ten."


	23. Camping Trip

Camping Trip

Sam POV-

I smiled to myself as I watched my son bounce around the house happily while Danny loaded the camping supplies into the trunk of the car. I sipped my coffee, definitely needing it at the before-the-sun hour. I was glad not to be joining them on the camping trip, in fact, neither Lizzie nor I would be piling into the car for the three and a half hour drive to the camping spot. Tucker and Dash, however, would be.

Guy's weekend.

And Grayson was just ecstatic to be considered old enough to partake, especially considering how much he idolizes his father, always trying to be exactly like him in every way.

Lizzie had been a little annoyed when she found out that she was not allowed to join her father and brother, but I assured her that she would not want to spend the weekend with four dirty guys (who would not likely be bathing except for in the lake). I rolled my eyes, feeling like I would have to have a kiddie pool filled with soap and water set outside for their return.

Thankfully, this guy's trip was coming at a good time.

"Alright," Danny pulled the trunk of the SUV down, "That's the last of it."

"Be careful," I warned. Fearing less for their safety, although, being a mom, I can't help but fear for that too, despite the superpowers, but more fearing for Grayson's control of his powers around Dash for an entire weekend, considering Dash still had no idea.

"We will be," Danny replied, giving me a tender kiss.

"Eww gross!" Grayson complained and Danny and I chuckled pulling apart.

"You won't feel that way when you're older, now come on, give me a hug," I told him. Grayson rolled his eyes, but agreed, giving me very quick hug. He tried to scramble out of my grasp but I wasn't quite done yet.

"Listen, Grayson," I lowered my voice, getting his attention, "You have to be really careful not to use your powers around Dash, okay? I mean it. No stunts, no stories, no mention of you _or _your dad, got it?"

"Yeah, mom, I've got it," he nodded. I sighed, allowing him to wiggle out of my grasp and into the backseat of the car.

"I'll keep an eye on him, don't worry," Danny told me.

"Oh yeah, that's _really r_eassuring," I remarked sarcastically.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Danny arched an eyebrow, but there was a smile on his face.

"Nothing, nothing. Just have fun and be safe," I told him, giving him a kiss, "_Both _of you better come home in one piece."

"Just don't you and Lizzie burn down the house while I'm gone," he smirked and I chuckled in response, "Love you."

"Love you too," I replied. He kissed me one more time before getting in the car and driving out of sight.

I turned, going back into the house.

I had the house to myself, well, myself and Cujo, until I would have to pick Lizzie (and, more than likely, Missy) up later this afternoon.

Danny POV-

It didn't take long to pick up Dash and Tucker and put their stuff in the back. I had been surprised that Tucker wanted to come, with the lack of technology and with his newborn daughter at home, but, he had insisted that he needed some time away. And, thankfully, Valerie had given him the "okay" about being away from her and Ebony for a few days.

Dash is still the least "tied-down" of the three of us, although he is now in a stable relationship with a woman named Claire. It's funny how much her personality actually differs from his, which, I guess, is why they work so well. I've only heard his side of the story about how they met, and I've only met her about three times (given that she lives two cities over), but, apparently, she had been dragged to Dash's fraternity party by her roommate even though she didn't want to be there. Dash tried to hit on her, three times before the end of the night, all three of which, she turned down, before she ended up leaving the party. Now, here's where it gets weird, well, weird for Dash at least. Even though there were plenty of other girls at the party, including his usual cheerleader types, he could only focus on her. So, apparently, he spent a good portion of the next week looking for her, and, eventually found her in the last place he would ever have gone: the library. Somehow, he convinced her to tutor him and, well, the rest is history, they've been together for nearly three years now.

Tucker and I are pretty convinced that he is going to pop the question soon, but he's not admitting it.

After a five and a half hour drive to the camping spot, yes, I said _five _hours, we were _all _ready to get out of the cramped car and into the clearing where we would be assembling the tents.

It was late afternoon by the time we had everything set up. It's unfortunate that, of a three day trip, most of the first and last days would be spent driving and packing or unpacking, leaving tomorrow as our only full day.

"This is gonna be great, three days of fishing, hiking, and bitching about our wi—girls," Dash grinned.

I didn't miss what he a_lmost _said; only further deepening the idea that he is going to propose to Claire. But I didn't mention it; instead I focused on what he _had _said.

"Dude," I glared at him, motioning to Grayson, whose eyes had widened at Dash's choice of language. If Grayson comes back talking like Dash, Sam is going to kill me.

"Oh, sorry dude. Don't say that word," Dash corrected himself as if by telling Grayson not to say the word, it would undo him ever hearing it. I sighed, something told me that would not be the first time he would hear it this weekend.

The first night after we finished unpacking, passed rather uneventfully (other than the fact that Grayson heard about four more words that Sam would wash his mouth out with soap for using). We went fishing and managed to catch several decent-sized salmon which we then grilled up for dinner.

Just judging by the look on his face, Grayson did not like salmon, but he pretended to, probably because he was afraid that if he complained, he wouldn't be allowed on the next trip.

Grayson went to bed earlier than the three of us, except for the fact he didn't _really g_o to sleep. I caught him floating invisibly over the campfire where we were talking and having some beers. And, because I couldn't scold him without tipping off Dash, I just gave him that angry-dad look and he floated back into the tent like a sad puppy.

Still, Dash seemed to find it weird that I was glaring at an empty space.

Thankfully, he didn't question it.

After seeing half the guests at Sam and my wedding, he probably thought that he did not want to know.

When we put the fire out and went into our separate tents, Grayson was finally asleep in his sleeping bag. I smiled, crawling into my own sleeping bag and closing my eyes. Well, that's what I would have done if my ghost sense hadn't have gone off. I sighed, looking at my son. I had seen his ghost sense go off too, and he shivered, but, thankfully, he was still asleep. And I wanted to keep him that way. So, I phased out of the tent, captured the ghost (who had happened to be, surprise, surprise, the Box Ghost) and went back to bed, happy to see that Grayson was still sleeping comfortably in the tent.

The next morning, I was the first one up. And, because I figured that Grayson probably wouldn't appreciate _another s_erving of salmon for breakfast, I phased a frying pan out of our bag of cooking stuff (just so that the metal wouldn't make a ton of noise banging against the other pots and pans), and then I pulled some butter out of the ice chest, and some bread out of the bag of food, and made some toast.

I'm not sure if it was the smell of cooking bread that woke everyone up, but they all got up at the same time as I dropped the last piece of toast onto a plate that was already stacked with other toasted pieces of white bread.

"Fenton, I didn't know you could cook," Dash arched an eyebrow.

"I can't. But I can work a frying pan and the grill. Sam handles everything else in our house," I replied.

I pulled out the rest of the butter and some grape jelly.

Grayson beamed, grape is his favorite.

"Anybody have any bacon?" I asked, considering that the pan was still hot.

"Do you even need to ask?" Tucker joked pulling out a gallon-sized Ziploc bag filled with bacon.

I rolled my eyes, and handed him over the pan. Tucker is extremely particular about his bacon, so I didn't even offer to fry it for him, he would have said no.

Several pieces of bacon, and even some eggs, later, we had a nice breakfast buffet set up.

"So are we going hiking today?" Grayson asked, his blue eyes lighting up eagerly, even though he was trying so desperately to seem nonchalant about it.

"That's right buddy," I told him.

About an hour later, we were ready to go hiking into the surrounding hills.

One good thing about having ghost powers, well, besides all of the _obvious _good things, is that neither Grayson nor I get bitten by mosquitoes, as a result neither of us have to climb the hills with a greasy coating of bug spray on our skin.

The hiking area around our campsite is beautiful, with tons of tall trees, gravel paths, grassy hills, and rivers with rapids for which the area is named.

We stopped for lunch, taking out our sandwiches on the top of a hill that had a view over a river which elegantly cut through a green valley.

Grayson had been quiet most of the walk up to the top of the hill, which, at east for him, wasn't too out of the ordinary. It was the result of at least one of three things 1. He was too busy taking in the surrounding nature to want to participate in conversation, 2. He was too busy listening in on _our _conversations to want to add anything, or 3. Which I desperately hoped it was not, something was wrong. It wouldn't be the first time that one of my kids had picked up on something that wasn't quite right, but, usually, it only works when they're together or if it's something concerning the other twin.

And, thinking that something might be wrong at my house in Amity Park while I am at least an hour and a half _flight _away (at top speed), was terrifying. Sure, Sam and Lizzie both have ghost powers of their own and can, no doubt, handle themselves, but I would feel so guilty if something happened and I wasn't there to help.

Discretely, I motioned for Grayson to walk over to where I was standing three feet away from the drop off of the hill.

"Is something wrong?" I whispered quietly.

He didn't answer right away.

Crap.

"No…I don't think so. Well, there's nothing bad going on with Lizzie or at home…but I feel like something is going to happen _here," _he informed me. I breathed an internal sigh of relief that my wife and daughter were safe. It wasn't surprising that my son had some precognitive abilities because of their connection, Grayson and Lizzie, have abilities that even _I _cannot begin to fathom, but it was a little surprising that whatever he was sensing had nothing to do with his sister. Maybe she was sensing that something was wrong with him right now.

"Don't worry about it buddy, we can handle anything that happens, right?" I smirked. He grinned nodding happily.

We continued our hike shortly after that, Dash, who had brought more food for lunch than the rest of us, was still eating it as we walked; as a result, he was several paces behind us.

Tucker, Grayson and I rounded a corner where a wide tree had been blocking our view of what was around the bend. We all stopped when we realized what was now visible.

A black bear.

We had known they were in the area, so we had brought bear-proof camping supplies designed to keep our food safe from hungry bears, but we hadn't anticipated that we would encounter one on our hike, especially given the fact that they were supposed to be nocturnal.

Thankfully, the bear hadn't noticed us yet.

Well, that is, until Dash finally caught up and snapped a twig under his foot.

Now, the bear saw us.

I looked at my son, who looked back up at me, and I knew that this is what his foretelling feeling had been for.

Maybe the bear would have just gone back to minding its own business, I had read before we came here that black bears don't _usually _attack humans, _unless _they were provoked by food. And in Dash's hands was a very tasty-looking BLT.

And, Dash, being Dash, still hadn't noticed the hungry bear eyeing his sandwich.

"Why are you guys—" his question stopped short by the low rumble coming from the bear in front of us.

"Dash don't—" I didn't even get to finish my warning before he screamed, loudly.

"BEEEAAAARRR!"

And, instead of standing still and throwing down the food, he did the one thing you are _never s_upposed to do: Run.

And the bear gave chase, barreling right passed all of three of us and taking off down the hill after Dash.

I sighed, looking at my son. Even _he _knew better than to run when confronted by a bear, and _he's _nine.

"What are we going to do?!" Tucker exclaimed, still not wanting to move from his spot, clinging to a vine that looked like poison oak.

"What do you think? We're going to go save his stupid butt," I glanced at Grayson who nodded in understanding. We both transformed, taking off after them, "Oh and Tucker," I called back, he looked up, "That's poison oak."

It was not hard to find them, what with Dash still wailing like a police siren. I was surprised actually, that with the amount of noise he was making, that he had not scared off the bear.

Invisibly, I flew down, phasing the sandwich out of Dash's hands, but there was still the issue of Dash running. I resisted the urge to laugh out loud when I saw my son table-top him.

Now Dash was screaming on the ground, as he bear came closer.

I whistled, putting a little of a ghostly wail behind it so that it was extra loud. The bear stopped and looked around before spotting me floating a little to his left.

"Hey Yogi, look, I've got the sandwich," I called to the bear who had now focused all of its attention on me, allowing my son to phase Dash out of harm's way.

"You want it?" I asked the bear, "Go get it!" I tossed the BLT over my shoulder, sending it flying in the opposite direction. Thankfully, the bear followed the sandwich, leaving us alone.

"Are you okay?" I asked Dash who was hiding behind a tree, looking a little banged up, but with no life-threatening injuries.

"Yeah thanks, I don't know what I would have done if you guys hadn't have been here…why are you here anyway?" he asked.

Crap.

"Vacationing," I lied, "Teaching my son how to handle bears. Don't you know never to run from a bear?"

"Apparently not," Grayson muttered under his breath.

"Why do you have to handle bears? Won't they just run through you?" Dash asked.

"Yes, but we have to know how to handle bears because sometimes people need to be rescued," I gave him a pointed look.

"Did you see the rest of my group? Are they okay?" he asked me.

"They're fine, Dash, now go back to your campground," I told him, realizing my mistake only a second too late.

"How do you know my name?" he asked me. **[A/N: with all the copy right issues and now with DP off of Netflix, I was finding it very difficult to watch an episode to see if Danny had called Dash by his name before, so if he did, I'm sorry for the mistake. Oh well, I guess, even if he had, it's been eleven years, Dash probably forgot].**

Shit.

In high school it would have worked a little better because I could have said that he was a football star, but now, with him nine years older and not really looking like the same football player, and with him making no significant changes in the community that would allow me to know his name, it made it a little more difficult to formulate some believable BS.

I had considered telling Dash the truth before, several times in fact, but either I would end up talking myself out of it, or the timing would be off.

I pointed at Grayson.

"Let _me _be the one to tell your mom about this," I ordered, and then I looked back at Dash, setting my feet on the ground.

Grayson followed suit.

In unison, we transformed back.

Dash's eyes widened in shock and he stood open-mouthed looking at me for a few seconds, then, he seemed to notice Grayson had transformed back too.

"Wow…Fenton?" Dash finally squeaked, "it's been you the whole time?"

"Yep," I replied.

"And your kids have it too?" he gaped at Grayson.

"Yep. So does Sam," I told him.

"Woah…" he looked almost ready to pass out, noting that, Grayson and I helped him sit down on a rock.

"Come on, let's get back to the campsite. Tucker accidentally touched some poison oak and I can imagine he's freaking out right about now," I suggested. I figured Dash probably wouldn't be able to handle flying back, so we walked (well, Dash and I walked, Grayson flew back, happy to not have to hide his powers anymore). From where we were the campsite was only about 200 yards, give or take. Dash was surprised that the bear had chased him that far.

Grayson was struggling to contain his laughter by the time we arrived, and it was easy to see why. Apparently, more than just Tucker's hands had touched the poison oak, including his entire left side, which was now covered in tiny, incredibly itchy bumps that got worse each time he scratched them, and trust me, he was scratching them _a lot _despite the caked-white anti-itch ointment he had lathered on his body.

"Tucker, you're just going to make it worse," I told him, even though I already knew he wouldn't listen to me.

"I told him that," Grayson announced proudly.

"I'll bet you did. You seem to be the most prepared one here," I told him.

The rest of the day, and the ride home the following day was filled with far too many questions from Dash, and far too much itching from Tucker of the bumps that had now started to blister (and, yeah, it looked as gross as it sounds).

And Valerie wasn't pleased (or surprised) to see Tucker's reaction to poison oak.

Sam was pleased to see us come home though, even if I was still debating how to tell her that I hadn't exactly headed her warning, and that I had exposed our entire family's secret to Dash.

She gave us hugs the second we got out of the car, before wrinkling her nose.

"I knew it. Both of you, backyard, now, before I let you in my house," she scolded playfully, even though she was dead serious. There was a kiddie pool filled with soap and water in the backyard. And that, was just the pre-wash. Both of us would need another shower once we were cleared to go into the house.

"So Tucker had a run-in with some poison oak," I told her as she waited on the back patio for us to finish washing off.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," she smirked.

"And Dash had a run-in with a bear," I added. It took one look, _one look_ at my face for her to figure it out. She smacked my chest.

"Daniel James Fenton! What did I say!" she exclaimed.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. Although that technically wasn't directed at me," I reminded her.

"You're right, it was directed at our _nine year old _son, who was, apparently able to keep the secret better than you. You're good," she told Grayson, "Go inside, put those wet clothes in the bathroom sink and take a shower."

I could tell she wasn't really mad, just a little annoyed.

"Would it make you feel any better if I told you that Grayson and I made a game about invisibly table-topping him after that?"

She smiled a little, "No."

"You sure?" I arched an eyebrow at her, "It was funny. One time Grayson table-topped him into a puddle of mud."

"You are not off of the hook for this. We agreed, remember, that now since it involves our entire family, it would be a _joint _decision who we tell," she crossed her arms, but her resolve was crumbling.

"You can punish me later," I muttered seductively, pulling her close to me.

"Stop it," she giggled, "You're soaking wet and filthy!"

In one motion, I dropped her into the now somewhat-brown-colored water of the kiddie pool. I was going to pay for that, badly, I knew it, but it was worth it to see the look on her face.

Her expression was murderous and her eyes were green.

"Love you honey," I called, flying inside the house.

"Get your ass back here, Danny! You are going to pay for that!" she yelled behind me.

**Hey guys, just to let you know, probably only one more chapter after this one, and then I can move onto the sequel with Grayson and Lizzie as teenagers. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it.**


	24. What!

What?!

Sam POV-

After Danny and I had taken a shower (after I chased him through the house and held him in the thermos for five minutes), we got ready to go over to his parent's house for dinner.

"I'm going to be glad to have some food that isn't salmon," Grayson said as we got into the car.

"So why are we going to grandma and grandpa's anyway?" Lizzie asked.

"Because they invited us for dinner," I told her, which was not _technically _a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either, I looked at Danny, he knew the _real _reason.

After the five minute drive to Fenton Works, we parked the SUV outside and walked up to the front door.

"Hello?" Danny called, pushing open the front door.

"Oh, hey guys!" Danny's mom poked her head out of the kitchen, "Dinner's almost ready, but Jazz said she was running a little late."

Even though Jazz and Rob now live in Amity Park (except for the fact that they live closer to the harbor, a fifteen minute drive away), I could imagine why they were running late. Matthew, was now at the "terrible two's" stage, which meant that, right about now, he was probably throwing a temper tantrum and Jazz was probably on the verge of a meltdown.

"So how was your trip?" Maddie asked Danny and Grayson.

"Great!" Grayson beamed before he and Lizzie ran passed her, through the kitchen, and into the backyard to play on the play-set that Danny and his dad had constructed out of some scrap metal when Danny was younger.

Danny's mom looked at him, expecting him to elaborate.

"It was fun. Except for the poison oak and bear incidents," Danny told her. Mrs. Fenton merely arched an eyebrow in response.

"Tucker and Dash," Danny answered her unspoken question.

"I hate to say that that isn't exactly surprising, for Tucker at least," she smiled.

"That's what I said," I told her.

"Yeah…Valerie wasn't exactly shocked either," Danny admitted.

"I sure hope that is something Ebony doesn't inherit from him: awkwardness and a lack of coordination," I remarked.

"No kidding. I hope she doesn't inherit his singing voice either," Danny added and we both cringed in response.

"Oh gosh, can you imagine, their first class recital and she sounds like a dying walrus and then accidentally bumps into a riser, toppling twenty-five kindergarteners to the floor," I shook my head, unfortunately, that was a legitimate possibility.

Danny and his mom said nothing, probably realizing, as I was, how likely it was for that to actually happen.

The front door opened behind us.

"Hey, sorry we're late!" Jazz said, holding a struggling, screaming, toddler in her grasp. Matthew landed a well-placed kick to his mom's stomach and Jazz took in a sharp intake of breath, setting him on the floor. That was exactly what Matthew wanted as he ran away.

"I've got him," Rob told Jazz, running after their son.

"I will never understand how you guys handled two, super powered, toddlers at one time," Jazz shook her head.

"Well, it helps that we have superpowers too," I told her.

"Speaking of, where are Lizzie and Grayson?" Jazz asked.

"Where do you think? Fort Fenton," Danny remarked using the name that the family had given to the scrap metal fort.

"And I'll bet their bugging the crap out of Dani," I smiled.

"Not yet," Dani's voice came from the stairs, "And not as badly as they used to." She was still twelve years old, but, according to her hypothesis, she only would remain that way for one more year. As a result, she would be enrolled in school when it begins in August, starting her seventh grade year two years ahead of Grayson and Lizzie who, by then, would have turned ten, and would be starting fifth grade. I don't know how the rest of the city hasn't caught on to the fact that she hasn't aged since she spoke at Danny and my wedding seven years ago, but I think they have all come to believe that the girl who gave a speech at our wedding was Danny's long lost sister (who, at some point must have grown up and moved away without their noticing) and that Dani is now Danny's cousin. This is why the official story will be that she is Grayson and Lizzie's second cousin instead of their aunt.

"Speaking of bothering Dani, would you mind babysitting on Tuesday? I would ask mom but she said that her and dad had a meeting downtown," Jazz asked her. Dani looked like she wanted to say 'no' but, the same way she had been compelled to wear that God-awful dress as Jazz's bridesmaid, she couldn't exactly turn down her sister's request.

"You know Jazz, Danny and I are also perfectly capable of babysitting Matthew," I reminded her, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah…but I'm concerned about what methods you might use…" Jazz muttered. She was probably right, I mean, to a point. Once I had to use some ghost-proof restraints on my own children to keep them from flying away while I made dinner. Of course, they were never injured, they were never in pain, they were never neglected, they were never threatened in any way, they just couldn't phase out of their highchairs.

I'm not saying that Jazz is a bad parent…but she feeds a little too much into the "I don't want to hurt the self-esteem of my child" (or as I like to call it the "Give Matthew whatever he wants") category, so she rarely says the word "no" to Matthew (leaving Rob to be the disciplinarian of their family). Therefore, Jazz would probably see any method of discipline by me as wrong, even if it didn't involve green glowing Velcro straps.

At that moment Rob carried Matthew back inside, over his shoulder, as Matthew pounded on his back, still screaming.

"You're probably right," I agreed with Jazz. I glanced at Dani, "Good luck," I told her with a smirk. Dani sighed, putting in her earbuds to drown out her nephew's screeching. I had no doubt that Dani could handle the two-and-a-half year old, she's actually more liberal with using her ghost powers than I am, not that she would ever tell Jazz that.

Dinner was good, as usual (at least, it's usually good when it's not attacking people), and after dinner, while everyone else moved into the living room, I helped Danny's mom clear the last of the dishes.

"So, remind me again why you wanted to have a family dinner?" she asked, looking at me out of the corner of her eye as she washed a dish in the sink.

"I just think it's nice when we're all together…that's all," I told her.

"Mmm hmm," she hummed, "Well everyone's all together in the living room…you know just in case you have any suggestions, ideas…announcements perhaps?"

I smiled, folding the dish towel and setting it on the counter before walking into the living room, Danny's mom directly on my heels.

I gave Danny a look, before sitting next to him on the couch.

'_I think it's time they replace this couch,' _I mused to myself, thinking of how many separate occasions have brought everyone to this same couch in this same room. And yeah, maybe the group has grown some since the very first trip to this couch, the one that changed Danny and my life forever, the one where we told his parents, nearly ten years ago, that we were expecting Lizzie and Grayson.

I looked around the room, everyone was in there talking in small groups amiably, not expecting anything significant.

"Everybody," Danny got the attention of the group, "We have an announcement."

He looked at me and smiled. No turning back now.

"Sam's pregnant."

Of course, I was met with an overwhelmingly joyous response.

"How far along are you?" Jazz asked.

"Well, assuming that it's going at the same pace as my last pregnancy, I'm technically five weeks, which is the equivalent of eleven," I told them.

We found out right before Danny and Grayson left on the camping trip, literally, he day before they left. Danny was still working on packing the last minute supplies when I had called to him from the bathroom.

"Danny!" I had yelled, leaning against the counter, trying to steady myself a little and fight off the next wave of nausea.

"What?" he had asked, wondering what was wrong.

"We're going to have to replace the toilet," I told him. At first he was confused, probably wondering why the hell I was smiling about something like that, but then he noticed that the inside of the toilet was stained neon green and a look of realization crossed his face.

"You're pregnant?!" he had grinned, embracing me. It was nothing like the response he had had the first time we found out we were pregnant, then again, we were only sixteen, now, we were happily married with room for one more.

He then asked me if I wanted him to cancel the camping trip, but, of course, I said "no." There was really no need for him to skip out on the trip (which would, more than likely end up being the last trip for a while), plus, Grayson had been so excited about going and there was no way I was going to break his heart.

"I think it's going to be a boy," Lizzie piped up. I had told her when she found me painting the guest room. First, she wondered why I was painting the room, and then she wondered why I had to wear a mask to do it (you know, just to be safe).

And, after Danny told me how Grayson had predicted the bear incident, or, perhaps it was the Dash incident _after _the bear, but at any rate, after he told me about that, I was inclined to believe that my daughter was right.

That night we came home and I showed Danny and Grayson the guest-room-turned-nursery that Lizzie had helped me finish painting. It was half azure blue, from the center of the room to the ceiling, and half lime green from the center of the room to the baseboards separated by a two inch thick white band that went around the room…and I might have taken the liberty of getting some matching stuff. There was nothing to distinguish the room _too _much for one gender or the other, especially considering we weren't 100% sure that it would, in fact, _be_ a boy, but all of the accessories at least matched. Thankfully, we could use one of the old cribs and baby furniture, and, this time, (considering I had already been to the doctor, who was, unfortunately, the same OB-GYN as my last pregnancy and confirmed that there was only _one _baby) we only had to buy one set of everything.

A little under seven months later, another Fenton/Phantom baby was born.

Andrew (or Andy or Drew for short) James Fenton or AJ Phantom, but, of course, he would not be taking on that name for a few more years.

…

**Yes, that is where I'm stopping it. But don't worry; Andy will be a pleasantly annoying younger brother in the next book. As I have already mentioned, the next book which will be called "Phantom Twins" focuses on Grayson and Lizzie as teenagers struggling through friendship and relationship drama while still trying to maintain their secrets. Now there will be more action in this one with the resurfacing of an old enemy, but I will give no more away than that.**

**The first chapter to "Phantom Twins" should be posted by tomorrow (7/22/13) by seven o'clock central time, and I say **_**should **_**because I do have a lot going on tomorrow. But I will desperately try to squeeze in some writing time, even if it takes me all night (if that is the case, don't be hanging by the computer at seven wondering when I am going to post it).**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and this series of one-shots, and I hope you continue to follow the story for the final installment in the Baby Steps Trilogy.**

**Thanks for reading, you guys rock! **


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